Una experiencia universitaria frustrada. Persecución y represión antes del golpe en la Universidad de Mar del Plata

Abstract

It is widely accepted that during the last military dictatorship in Argentina, human and social sciences were privileged focus of ideological persecution and governmental attacks. Nevertheless, these serious persecutions and attacks did not begin with the coup d'etat of March 24 of 1976. Almost two years before, during the presidency of Marí­a Estela Martí­nez, Argentinean universities were specially chosen by para-governmental terrorism, which was symbolized by the infamous Minister of Welfare, José López Rega, as places to develop its criminal actions. As a particular case, the School of Anthropology at the University of Mar del Plata suffered a dramatic process of dismantlemenjt from the middle of 1974 to the end of 1975, when all the applications for the School of Anthropology were cancelled. Drawing both on official documents of the university and on testimonies of people who were engaged in that experience, in this article I aim at accounting for a historical context which laid the foundations of a tragic path that was going to be continued by the military process.