On the uses of the category “peronisation” in the study of popular identifications. Contributions to understanding the approach of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo to Peronism

Abstract

From the early years of the new century, the Madres de Plaza de Mayo - both the Linea Fundadora and Asociación -established close links with Peronism. Progressively, the traces of a national-popular rhetoric anchored in demands for inclusion, equality and social justice became evident in the organizations’ claims, in their involvement in demands not directly related to the crimes committed by the last dictatorship and in the configuration of a new positioning on the national political scene. However, the approach of the Madres to the ideology of Peronism and its implications for their activism did not arouse much interest among specialized analyses of the subject. This article proposes a first exercise in problematising this neglect and reflecting on possible ways of understanding this link. In this sense, we explore the conceptual and analytical potential of the historiographical category of “peronisation” to address a new phenomenon of popular political identification led by the Mothers and characterized by promoting changes in these organizations, as well as by influencing discussions on the definition of what Peronism is.