Review of Journalism and Mass Communication
June 2020, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 1-8
ISSN: 2333-5742(Print), 2333-5734 (Online)
Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved.
Published by American Research Institute for Policy Development
DOI: 10.15640/rjmc.v8n1a1
URL: https://doi.org/10.15640/rjmc.v8n1a1
Digital Mutation, a Result of Motivation and Resilience. Stolen Babies in Catalunya
Carolina Escudero
1
, PhD
Abstract
This paper bridges the concepts of digital literacy and digital inclusion, and introduces digital mutation
following an examination of 20 families (older adults) from the Stolen Babies organization in Catalonia,
looking for their stolen babies and advocating for social justice. The aim of this paper is to investigate the
extent to which digital technologies offer new opportunities to improve people‟s social lives, transcending
barriers and experiencing, in this particular case, a digital mutation. The interaction between factors of social
and cultural differentiation for this population gives rise to specific kinds of choices and life changes. This
exploratory study argues that digital mutation responds to the interaction of this population‟s social factors
and digital experiences by combining new social experience / new digital actions and is framed within two
parallels: the motivation experienced as a group which makes them transcend barriers and consequently they
put digital literacy into practice; the second parallel is between resilience -that empowers them, gives them
confidence- also represented as a digital inclusion. The sum of both parallels are the factors that predefine in
this population a digital mutation.
Keywords: Digital inclusion, Digital Literacy, Digital Mutation, Stolen babies, Resilience, Spain.
1. Introduction
Media campaign activism and human rights advocacy within media platforms illustrate how digital inclusion
opens up new possibilities of study, being in this case its interconnection with motivation and a resilient process (for
trauma restoration) considered to be steps prior to digital mutation.In this sense, scholars such as van Deursen, van
Dijk and Klooster argue that the main causes for Internet users‟ choice of activity types are motivations and positions
in society (2014; p.260).
The theft of babies in Spain (1940-1999) has been systematic (medical doctors, nurses, Catholic priests and
nuns) and based on the concept of eugenics by Doctor Antonio Vallejo Nágera used, during the period of Franco, as
an argument for the appropriation of descent. After the dictatorship, in 1975, these practices had an economic
motivation. For five decades, some 300,000 babies were stolen in Spain. In this sense, “Te Estamos Buscando” (We
Are Looking for You), known as the TEB media campaign(Escudero, 2017, 2018), was based on group dynamics to
reinforce resilience and introduce the topic into Spanish society, by empowering the families‟ voices and focusing on
the importance of sharing the traumatic experience as part of the process of restoration, as Herman suggests:
Sharing the traumatic experience with others is a precondition for the restitution of a sense of a meaningful
world (...) The response of the community has a powerful influence on the ultimate resolution of the trauma.
Restoration of the breach between the traumatized person and the community depends, first, upon public
acknowledgment of the traumatic event and, second, upon some form of community action (1992; p.70).
Investigations into the thefts of babies began to take shape in 2010, and in 2011 various organizations of
families were created to look for their children throughout Spain. The resilience workshops were held in Catalonia and
were for the members of the SOSBRC organizations, from which two campaigns arose in which members of other
organizations of stolen babies participated: Andalusia, the Basque Country, Pamplona, Madrid (2017).
1
University of Missouri, School of Journalism. Address: Calle Avila 48, 3rd floor. Barcelona (08005)
Email address:escuderoc@missouri.edu Telephone: 0034 666236227