Of HIJOS and Niños: Revisiting Postmemory in Post-Dictatorship Uruguay

Abstract

Focusing on the case of post-dictatorship Uruguay, this article reconsiders the term “postmemory,” coined by Marianne Hirsch to describe the transmission of memory from Holocaust survivors to their children about events that preceded their birth. It examines two groups: HIJOS, comprised of the offspring of the dictatorship’s victims, who were babies and young children during the dictatorship, and Niños en Cautiverio Político, whose members were imprisoned with their mothers as infants or born in captivity. Analysis of these contrasting organizations elucidates postmemory’s complexity, revealing the broad spectrum of experiences it encompasses and the role of external factors in the construction of memory.