How has grief tourism re-defined the social and judicial progress of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo?

The intent of this thesis is to examine the ways in which grief tourism has changed the nature and progress of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo as an organized group of mothers who have spent thirty years searching for answers about the fate of their disappeared children. This thesis will provide a historical overview of the Dirty War followed by a definition of grief tourism and an analysis of tourist's motivations to visit sites of death and disaster. With the increase and development of mass communications, people are able to research and discover remote corners of the world very easily. Furthermore, death and disaster always features as the predominant portion of the daily news. With the free flow of information, whether desired or not, coupled with an innate fascination for the morose, one is enticed to discover and visit sites of death and disaster. Grief tourism has linked visitor destinations all over the world including the concentration camps in Germany, Ground Zero in New York and now, the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina. Research indicates that grief tourism emerges in many differing forms of tourism, cultural being the most prominent. The research also shows that visitation to such sites is becoming increasingly popular. During the thirty years of their campaign, the Madres de Plaza de Mayo have been successful in bringing to justice many of the military leaders guilty of human rights violations, assassination and murder. Having partially met their initial goal, the Madres have continued to focus their attention on other human rights work. Their new found enterprises are intertwined with increasing visitation to the Plaza de Mayo. They have used tourism to their advantage in helping attain their goal of achieving a free Argentina.