March 25 in Small Hall 110, starting at 4:00 pm.
“Declassification Diplomacy: Argentina, the US, and the Afterlives of 1976” is an upcoming colloquium commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1976 coup and the 10th anniversary of President Obama’s 2016 visit, which launched a process of “declassification diplomacy” between the United States and Argentina.
The colloquium will begin with a roundtable at 4:00 highlighting William & Mary’s role in the Argentina Declassification Project, examining the practice and politics of declassification; archives as evidence for truth-seeking and trials; the ethics of secrecy and disclosure; and how primary sources change what we can teach, research, and know about the dictatorship and its afterlives, featuring John Powers ’89, Acting Director of the Office of the Historian; Federico Schmeigel, Director of the Program for the Control of Corruption and Illegal Intelligence at the Provincial Commission for Memory (La Plata, Argentina); Dr. Silvia Tandeciarz, Vice-Dean for Social Sciences & Interdisciplinary Studies and Chancellor Professor of Hispanic Studies, and Johanna Weech ’20, Research Transparency Program Manager at the Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA).
The roundtable will be followed by a panel of student presentations at 5:30 moderated by Dr. Betsy Konefal (Department of History) with presentations by Liana Carroll ’26, Hannah Deschler ’26, Georgia Freyer ’26, and Martina Queijo ’28.
The event will conclude with a performance of Personal Belongings, a 1975 play written by Diana Raznovich before she went into exile. The play is directed by Dr. Sarah Hart (Department of Theater & Performance) and acted by Amanda Sobrado ’27. It will take place in the Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall LAB Theater, starting at 7:00 pm. Book free tickets for the performance here (more information below).
About Personal Belongings
If you had to leave tomorrow, what would you pack?
Seemingly on her own, a “Diva” searches for her belongings among piles of suitcases in a baggage claim. What she finds: a tricycle, raincoats, the Mona Lisa and human bones…
Written in 1975 in Argentina, anticipating the military coup of 1976, this monologue by comedic feminist Diana Raznovich satirizes political detention and exile.
Personal Belongings, a bilingual play directed by Dr. Sarah Hart, takes audiences through a whirlwind of tragic, absurd events, as “Diva” (Amanda Sobrado ’27) loses her sense of place and self–is she coming or going?
Come to this one-act to see if she can find her belonging(s).