Afectos, derechos y ciudadanía: la práctica fotográfica de los excombatientes de Malvinas

This article explores the photographic practice of ex-combatants focusing on CECIM La Plata. Two types of photographs are analyzed: images captured as part of human rights campaigns and others taken in Malvinas during trips back to the islands. As Federico Lorenz (2012) has argued, ex-combatants have been associated with an ambiguous meaning, oscillating between victimization and heroism. Instead of resolving or recalibrating this oscillation, this article explores ex-combatants as activists who act as citizens to continue a claim over Malvinas. Countering views such as those proposed by Vicente Palermo (2007), who sees discourses of sovereignty as an obsessive cultural narrative, this article proposes sovereignty as a discourse that can adopt different textures. Sovereignty arises not only as a national and political claim, but also as an affective and civic one. Following Ariella Azoulay’s theory of photography (2012), this article analyzes photographic practice as a way of meaningfully encountering Malvinas. Thus, ex-combatants are explored as activist citizens and photography as the means through which they constitute themselves as citizens vis-à-vis Malvinas. This article argues that, by forging civic and affective ties with the territory and its history, ex-combatants are able to imagine exercises of sovereignty over Malvinas.