Beyond the criminal appropriation of children: the emergence of organizations of “adoptees” seeking their “biological identity” in Argentina

Abstract

This article analyzes the emergence of organizations of adoptees seeking their “biological identity” in Argentina and their claims to the state as a formal guarantor of their “right to identity”. This analysis involves looking into the impact of the problematization of the criminal appropriation of children in our country as a result of the work of the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo in searching for their grandchildren, kidnapped during Argentina’s last military dictatorship (1976-1983).The emergence of these organizations of “adoptees” in the early 2000’s redefined the meanings associated at the moment to the “right to identity”. The way these organizations use the terms “biological”, “original”, and “true” to characterize “identity” points to the meaning, definition and precision of their problematic, which is both different and similar to Abuelas’.