The Struggle for Memory in Latin America: Recent History and Political Violence(Memory Politics and Transitional Justice)

This multi-disciplinary volume analyzes struggles over the memory of past political violence in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, the United States, Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. Each chapter offers a comprehensive history of the political violence that occurred in the second half of the twentieth century, analyzing its links with 1) the international context of the cold war, 2) the particular forms of repression and authoritarianism that prevailed in the domestic setting, 3) the social inequalities that were reinforced, and 4) the political, economic, and cultural transformations that Latin American societies were undergoing at the time. Considering the different paths that Latin American countries have taken in their efforts to confront history, the chapters examine how relevant actors look back on past events and vie with one another to give these events meaning in the public sphere. For each country examined, contributors consider the initiatives of transnational, regional, and national actors, as well as factors including class, gender, ethnicity, and geographic location. Chapters give political- and social-historical perspectives and employ tools from a variety of disciplines, including memory studies, history, political science, sociology, and anthropology.

Table of Contents:
Table of Contents Acknowledgements List of Contributors 1. Introduction; Emilio Crenzel and Eugenia Allier Montano 2. Dictatorships and Authoritarian Regimes 3. Toward a History of the Memory of Political Violence and the Disappeared in Argentina; Emilio Crenzel 4. As an unhealed wound': Memory and Justice in Post-Dictatorship Uruguay; Eugenia Allier y Camilo Vicente 5. Memory Policies in Chile, 1973-2010; Claudio Barrientos 6. The Skirmish of Memories and Political Violence in Dictatorial Brazil; Samantha Quadrat (Universidade Federal Fluminense, Brazil) 7. The Legacy of Authoritarianism and the Construction of Historical Memory in Post-Stroessner Paraguay; Luis Roniger, Leonardo Senkman and Maria Antonia Sanchez 8. Wars and Authoritarian Regimes 9. The Truth Ten Years On: The CVR in Peru; Cynthia Milton 10. The Commissions for the Study of Violence in Colombia. An Analysis of the Official Devices and Narratives of the Past and Present of Violence; Jefferson Jaramillo 11. The Limits of Peace in the Case of El Salvador: Memories in Conflict and Permanent Victims; Eduardo Rey Tristan, Alberto Martin and Jorge Juarez Avila 12. The Naturalization of War and Peace: The Dominant Discourses on Political Violence in Guatemala; Julieta Rostica 13. From Conspiracy to Struggle for Democracy: A Historicization of the Political Memories of Mexico's 1968; Eugenia Allier Montano 14. Writings on Recent History 15. It Is Not a Part of American History That We Are Proud of.' Declassification Projects in the United States (1993-2002); Benedetta Calandra

About the Author :
Eugenia Allier-Montano is full-time Researcher at the Institute for Social Research of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. She obtained her PhD in History at Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, France. She is the author of Batallas de la memoria. Los usos politicos del pasado reciente en Uruguay (2010). Emilio Crenzel is full-time Researcher at the National Council of Scientific Research (CONICET), Argentina, Professor at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Researcher at the Gino Germani Research Institute, Argentina. He is author of Memory of the Argentina Disappearances: The Political History of Nunca Mas (2011).