BOOK REVIEW – Acts of Repair, by Natasha Zaretsky
Posted under: Elliott Howes, American University – Washington, D.C.
BOOK REVIEW – Acts of Repair: Justice, Truth, and the Politics of Memory in Argentina, by Natasha Zaretsky
The field of genocide studies is often dominated by ideological discussions of international law, politics, and conflict. As scholars debate the definition of genocide, how to prosecute its perpetrators, or where it is most likely to occur, genocide’s most fundamental impact on ordinary people can be forgotten. Regardless of whether a group receives explicit protection under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention), genocidal violence is frequently viewed as being of the highest moral concern. All violence is traumatic; its impact can be felt by direct survivors, their families, or anyone who connects on an emotional level with those who have experienced it. The trauma and lasting memory following acts of genocidal violence have the power to defy traditional notions of victimhood and span different social groups, generations, and even survivors of different atrocities.
In Acts of Repair: Justice, Truth, and the Politics of Memory in Argentina, Natasha Zaretsky reveals how survivors of the Holocaust, the deadly 1994 bombing of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, and repression during Argentina’s 1976-1983 dictatorship have all used memory in their search for justice in Argentina. Focusing on the lives of ordinary people, she uses personal narratives of reflection, activism, and healing to draw connections between survivors and highlight the humanity of victimhood in the study of post-genocide societies.
In her book, Zaretsky tells the stories of Sofía (a mother who lost her daughter in the 1994 AMIA bombing) and Jack (a man who moved to New York and Buenos Aires after surviving the Holocaust in Poland), among others. Zaretsky guides readers through their lives with significant quotes from interviews and powerful imagery to describe the little things in their lives that hold meaning. When first introduced to Jack in Chapter One, readers learn that he loves coffee and that he and Zaretsky talked over coffee on many occasions. In Chapter Six, Zaretsky writes: “We sat down for coffee that Jack made carefully by boiling water, putting the ground coffee beans into a filter that he held over a special pot, and pouring that water over the grounds until the coffee was ready…it is the coffee I imagine Jack knew from his days in New York after the war. Jack liked to tell me he was making the ‘good American coffee’” (Zaretsky, 2021, p. 167). Scenes like this one are easy for readers to relate to; these simple, intimate activities evoke emotions of joy and calmness that everyone can understand. Because certain types of victimhood can be difficult to relate to, the imagery used to tell Jack’s story allows the audience to construct emotional ties with him as another human, rather than as a distant victim or survivor.
While the individuals featured in Acts of Repair experienced different periods of violence, Zaretsky chooses to tell their stories together and connect them with the idea of liminality – specifically, liminal spaces in rites of passage or transformation. Zaretsky defines such liminality in reference to the work of anthropologists Victor Turner and Arnold van Gennep, seeing it as “that ambiguous space, a threshold between stages, where you have left one state and have not yet been incorporated into the next” (Zaretsky, 2021, p. 11). This definition of liminality allows Zaretsky to retain a focus on people over politics. The importance of this human-centered approach is highlighted in her analysis of survivors’ experiences and the experiences of activist groups in the aftermath of atrocity.
Zaretsky uses the concept of liminal space to describe the process in which survivors work towards self-healing in a climate void of justice. She details how Sofía chose to write a poem about losing her daughter in the 1994 AMIA bombing (Zaretsky, 2021, p. 26), and how Jack initially chose not to tell her about his experience fleeing the Holocaust (Zaretsky, 2021, p. 34). These seemingly small details show how survivors’ internal struggles with trauma impact not just themselves, but also their relationships. Even in private settings – Sofía at home, or Jack in conversation with Zaretsky – the two survivors find themselves making decisions about how to express themselves. And though these two have very different pasts, Zaretsky tells their stories in ways that conjure up images of a sincere understanding and emotional connection between them.
At the same time Sofía and Jack were making decisions about remembrance, Zaretsky explains how organizations such as the Madres de Playa de Mayo and Memoria Activa were working in public spaces to demand justice in Buenos Aires. After years of protests and calls for action, trials and other forms of justice were undermined by impunity and a lack of transparency. Despite the blatant injustice, the people and organizations discussed in Acts of Repair chose to continue their fight for years to come. Their stories show the significance and power of collective trauma in communities. Collective trauma is a nuanced idea that can be easier understood through the lens of individual cases; reading about how these activists met in difficult weather conditions, marched to call out perpetrators outside of their homes, and made public spaces their own is inspiring, and gives the audience a glimmer of hope.
Zaretsky’s placement of survivor narratives alongside activist movements provides a necessary space for reflecting on what it means to be a survivor of violent atrocities in both personal and social contexts. The ways in which someone expresses themself in public versus in private can be quite different. Her book allows readers to see that victimhood is not just an internal battle with trauma, but a journey in finding ways to express it to others as an act of repair.
Acts of Repair takes an overlooked aspect of genocide studies and brings it to the forefront of a scholarly study. Zaretsky uses an intimate form storytelling that allows readers to see survivors of genocidal violence on a personal level, acknowledging their shared human existence rather than relying on labels or group identities. Her book also explains how memory motivates activist organizations to fight for and inspire change. Zaretsky’s focus on how genocide impacts individuals was incredibly touching, and Acts of Repair deserves full praise for its commitment to human life as a subject of genocide studies.
References
Zaretsky, N. (2021). Acts of Repair: Justice, Truth, and the Politics of Memory in Argentina. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
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