Researching Kinship, Violence and the Military

This chapter provides a historical overview of the escalation of violence and political confrontation in the two decades that preceded the last military coup in 1976. It explains the role of the military in this phenomenon, as well as their implication and responsibilities in the repression that took place during the dictatorship. It also recounts the long quest for truth and justice since the country’s transition to democracy, and the condemnation experienced by the military in the context of the trials for crimes against humanity, which were launched in 2005. The chapter then presents the innovative methodological approach to the social and family dimension of the military adopted in the study; it describes the progress and challenges in the field, the limits of the subject’s exploration, and the ethical dilemmas it posed. It also details how I gained access to the military community and managed the research process, bridging the gap between the expectations and the reality of fieldwork. This self-reflection is crucial for the reader to appreciate the research findings, as tensions within fieldwork mirror the state of contemporary civil—military relations in Argentina, and the difficulty in confronting the past. Finally, the chapter introduces the categories and concepts that sustain the analysis and have allowed me to make intelligible how kinship works in the military environment.