Pilar Calveiro (born 7 September 1953) is an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

political scientist, a doctor of political science residing in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. She was exiled to that country after having been kidnapped at the

Navy Petty-Officers School of Mechanics The Higher School of Mechanics of the Navy of Argentina (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Escuela Superior de Mecánica de la Armada'', commonly referred to by its acronym ESMA) has gone through three major transformations throughout its history. Ori ...

(ESMA) during the military dictatorship of the 1970s. In her writing she has made important contributions to the analysis of

biopower Biopower (or ''biopouvoir'' in French), coined by French social theorist Michel Foucault, refers to various means by which modern nation states control of populations, control their populations. In Foucault's work, it has been used to refer ...

and

political violence Political violence is violence which is perpetrated in order to achieve political goals. It can include violence which is used by a State (polity), state against other states (war), violence which is used by a state against civilians and non-st ...

, as well as recent history and the memory of Argentine repression. Her work has been published in Mexico, Argentina, and France, and she is currently a research professor at the

Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla The Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla () (BUAP) is the oldest and largest university in Puebla, Mexico. Founded on 15 April 1578 as Colegio del Espíritu Santo, the school was sponsored by the Society of Jesus during most of the Spanis ...

. Her publications include ''Poder y desaparición, los campos de concentración en Argentina'' and ''Desapariciones, memoria y desmemoria de los campos de desaparición argentinos''.

Biography

Pilar Calveiro was born in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

on 7 September 1953. She studied at the

Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires (''National School of Buenos Aires'') is a public high school in Buenos Aires, Argentina, affiliated to the University of Buenos Aires. In the tradition of the European ''gymnasium'' it provides a free educatio ...

and began studying sociology at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires (, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the second-oldest university in the country, and the largest university of the country by enrollment. Established in 1821 ...

. She was a militant of the (FAR), and later of the

Montoneros Montoneros (, MPM) was an Argentine far-left politics, far-left Peronism, Peronist, Camilism, Camilist and Catholic Church, Roman Catholic revolutionary Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla organization, which emerged in the 1970s during the "Argentine ...

. On 7 May 1977, she was kidnapped by a member of the

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

in the middle of the street and taken to the clandestine detention center called

Mansión Seré The Mansión Seré (also known as Quinta de Seré and Atila) was a clandestine detention center (CCD) run by the Argentine Air Force during the self-styled National Reorganization Process (1976–1983). History Mansión Seré was an old house ...

in Ituzaingó. In a term that lasted for a year and a half, she was also detained-disappeared in the

Castelar Castelar is a city in Morón Partido (county), Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, some 30 km west of the nation's capital, the autonomous city of Buenos Aires. It is part of the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area. Castelar is the west ...

police station, the former house of Admiral Massera belonging to the Naval Information Service, and at the Navy Petty-Officers School of Mechanics (ESMA). She went into exile in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

in 1978, and later in Mexico, where she has lived since 1979. There she studied

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

at the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public university, public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countri ...

(UNAM), where she obtained her bachelor's degree (1986), master's degree (1995), and doctorate (2001) in that discipline.

''Poder y desaparición''

''Poder y desaparición: Los campos de concentración en Argentina'' (''Power and Disappearance: The Concentration Camps in Argentina'') is Calveiro's most referenced work. Written in the framework of her master's thesis and published for the first time in Buenos Aires in 1998, it is a work drawing on testimonies of survivors from different torture and concentration camps of the Argentine military dictatorship (1976–1983). Calveiro reflects on the political concepts that underlie these practices, interweaving her personal experience into this broader narrative. The prologue of the book was written by the poet

Juan Gelman Juan Gelman (3 May 1930 – 14 January 2014) was an Argentine poet. He published more than twenty books of poetry between 1956 and his death in early 2014. He was a naturalized citizen of Mexico, where he arrived as a political exile of the Proc ...

Personal life

Pilar Calveiro became a widow in 1980, when her husband, Horacio Domingo Campiglia, was arrested in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

by personnel from the 601st Battalion of the

Argentine Army The Argentine Army () is the Army, land force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of Argentina. Under the Argentine Constitution, the president of Argentina is the commander-in-chief of the Armed For ...

, who moved him to Argentine territory and then "disappeared" him as another victim of

Operation Condor Operation Condor (; ) was a campaign of political repression by the right-wing dictatorships of the Southern Cone of South America, involving intelligence operations, coups, and assassinations of left-wing sympathizers in South America which fo ...

. She is the mother of two daughters, Mercedes and María Campiglia. In 2014 she received the

Konex Award Konex Foundation Awards, or simply Konex Awards, are cultural awards from the Konex Foundation honouring Argentine cultural personalities. History and purpose Konex Awards are granted by the Konex Foundation, created in 1980 in Argentina. The p ...

Diploma of Merit as one of Argentina's most important writers of political and sociological essays of the decade.

Individual publications

* ''Poder y desaparición'' (1998). Buenos Aires: Colihue * ''Redes familiares de sumisión y resistencia'' (2003). México: UACM * ''Familia y poder'' (2006). Buenos Aires: Libros de la Araucaria * ''Política y/o violencia. Una aproximación a la guerrilla de los años 70'' (2006). Buenos Aires: Norma Editorial * ''Violencias de estado. La guerra antiterrorista y la guerra contra el crimen como medios de control global.'' (2012). Buenos Aires: Siglo Veintiuno Editores

Selected articles in collective works

* "Antiguos y nuevos sentidos de la política y la violencia", in ''Revista Lucha Armada'' 2 (4), 2006 * "Texto y memoria en el relato histórico", in ''Acta Poética'' 27 (2), Autumn 2006 * "Torture: New Methods and Meanings", translated by William Nichols and Thomas C. Hilde, in ''South Central Review'' 24 (1), Spring 2007 * "Apuntes sobre la tensión entre violencia y ética en la construcción de las memorias políticas", in Durán, Valeria/Huffschmid, Anne (Hg.) (2012).'' Topografías conflictivas. Memorias, espacios y ciudad en disputa''. Buenos Aires: Nueva Trilce

References