Table Of ContentLatin American Societies
Current Challenges in Social Sciences
Joannie Jean
Battles
for Memory
and Justice in
Chile
Struggles for Remembrance, Legitimacy
and Accountability
Latin American Societies
Current Challenges in Social Sciences
Series Editors
Adrián Albala, Institute of Political Science (IPOL)
University of Brasília
Brasilia, Brasília, Brazil
María José Álvarez Rivadulla, School of Social Sciences
Universidad de los Andes
Bogotá, Colombia
Alejandro Natal, Seminar Inst., Civ. Soc. & Pub. Pol.
El Colegio Mexiquense
Zinacantepec, Estado de México, Mexico
This series aims at presenting to the international community original contributions
by scholars working on Latin America. Such contributions will address the
challenges that Latin American societies currently face as well as the ways they deal
with these challenges. The series will be methodologically agnostic, that is: it
welcomes case studies, small-N comparative studies or studies covering the whole
region, as well as studies using qualitative or quantitative data (or a mix of both), as
long as they are empirically rigorous and based on high-quality research. Besides
exploring Latin American challenges, the series attempts to provide concepts,
findings and theories that may shed light on other regions. The series will focus on
five axes of challenges:
1) Social, Public and Environmental Policies
The first set of challenges revolves around the agenda setting in public and social
policies in Latin America. This may include several topics like: redistribution
policies, social mobility, marginalization. Another key item to be included deals
with sources and consequences of environmental change – especially human-related
change. These consequences threaten not only Latin American’s material
reproduction (e. g. by threatening water and food sources) but also deeply ingrained
cultural practices and lifestyles. This section will, therefore, include proposals on
environmental policies and matters. We welcome studies on a wide array of social,
public and environmental policy making, implementation and effects.
2) Crime, Security and Violence
The second set of challenges stem from the persistence of violence and insecurity
among Latin Americans, which consistently rank crime and insecurity at the top of
their biggest problems. Crime organizations – from youth gangs to drug cartels –
have grown and became more professionalized, displacing state forces in
considerable chunks of national territories and, in some cases, penetrating the
political class through illegal campaign funding and bribes. To this we should add,
in some countries of the region, the persistence of armed insurgents fighting against
governmental forces and paramilitaries, therefore creating cross-fires that threaten
the lives of civilians. We welcome studies on a wide array of security and violence
related issues.
3) Collective Action
A third theme has to do with how collective actors – social movements, civil society
organizations, and quasi-organized groups – deal with issues that affect them. We
welcome studies on a wide array of collective actors working on different issues,
with different tactics, and diverse ideological stances.
4) Migrations
Political, economic, and environmental crises, as well as promises of better
opportunities in other lands, have encouraged Latin Americans to migrate within
their national borders or beyond them. While during the 1970s Latin Americans
often migrated to other regions, nowadays national crises encourage them to seek
other destinations in more nearby countries. We welcome studies on a wide array
of topics and diverse theoretical perspectives.
5) Political Inclusion and Quality of Democracy
Dealing with social and ethnic minorities constitutes one of the most recurrent and
unresolved challenges for the Latin American democracies. This topic includes the
representation of the minorities, but includes also the study of the socio-political
elites. We also welcome other studies on a wide array of issues regarding inclusion
and quality of democracy in the region.
Both solicited and unsolicited proposals will be considered for publication in
the series.
Joannie Jean
Battles for Memory
and Justice in Chile
Struggles for Remembrance, Legitimacy
and Accountability
Joannie Jean
School of Sociology and Anthropology Studies
University of Ottawa
Ottawa, ON, Canada
ISSN 2730-5538 ISSN 2730-5546 (electronic)
Latin American Societies
ISBN 978-3-031-25533-5 ISBN 978-3-031-25534-2 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25534-2
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature
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Preface
This book is the result of my doctoral research. My fieldwork and the writing pro-
cess took place before the explosion of social movements and unrest in Chile that
led to the plebiscite. Which mean that the 2018–2022 period is unfortunately not
covered but would be most likely to be covered in future investigations.
The past and its representation in the public space have been a source of conflict
since the end of the Pinochet regime. Spectral-like, these matters reappear in the
present in many forms as organizations of memory and human rights struggle over
the meaning and importance of the past, as well as the legitimacy that must be
granted to actors mobilizing this past in the public arena. However, these struggles
and conflicts occur in particular sociopolitical dynamics and engage a multitude of
actors with different representations of the past. This state of affairs calls for a refor-
mulation of the conceptualization of the role of collective actors in order to high-
light these differences in the way of representing the past, certainly, but also in the
analogous and opposite strategies of doing so.
This book addresses the work of seven organizations of memory and human
rights in Santiago, Chile, and the struggles in which they are engaged. From a mul-
tidisciplinary perspective, it undertakes, diachronically, the reconstruction of the
main debates that have arisen around the themes of impunity, truth, and memory.
Covering the period from 1998 to 2018, it begins with the detention of Augusto
Pinochet in London and concludes with the end of the second term of the first
woman president, Michelle Bachelet. The seven organizations studied range from
family groups and survivors to sites of memory and consciousness. Through the
discourses produced by these organizations, it examines particular historical peri-
ods by focusing on strong moments of these conjunctures in order to highlight the
struggles of meaning and the conflicts of legitimacy relating to these times. In con-
crete terms, particular attention is paid to the analysis of the main themes of litiga-
tion, the way in which the actors are mobilized, their objectives, and how the past is
vii
viii Preface
evoked in the public space. One of the purposes of this book is to highlight the
conflictual relationship between organizations and post-dictatorship administra-
tions. This dimension thus makes it possible to understand the uneasiness of the
political representations that appear in the background of the public interventions of
the porteurs de mémoire.
Ottawa, ON, Canada Joannie Jean
Acknowledgments
It took me five years to complete a monumental work of archiving, translation, and
fieldwork that took me in multiple directions that I had not anticipated when I
entered the doctoral program in sociology. It then took me two more years to trans-
form it into a book. This dissertation and this book, however, were not a solitary
endeavor. In fact, it would not have been possible without the support, help, and
advice of many people.
I must first thank my thesis supervisors, Dominique Masson (Institute of Feminist
and Gender Studies, University of Ottawa) and Karine Vanthuyne (School of
Sociological and Anthropological Studies, University of Ottawa). Over the last few
years, I have found in them a moral support and a constant accompaniment as I
navigated new theoretical and methodological fields. Their presence at my side has
been invaluable in this adventure that was the doctorate. During the translation of
the thesis, Michelle Landy (Department of Sociology and Criminology, Université
de Moncton) allowed me to continue my research and supported this transforma-
tive work.
I must also acknowledge the important financial contribution of the Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the University of
Ottawa, and the School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies. Their scholar-
ships and grants not only allowed me to pursue my studies but also made possible a
field trip and participation in numerous international conferences. As the first in my
extended family to pursue a graduate degree, I could not have envisioned pursuing
this degree without this support.
***
Over the past five years, exceptional people have accompanied and supported
me. First of all, I would like to warmly thank Caroline, Geneviève BB, Matthew,
Gilbert, Alexis, and Christian for their countless readings, rereadings, and advice
during the writing and sending of various proposals. Without you, I would certainly
have had a little less “sense.” A special thanks for their patience, listening, and sup-
port to Louise, Vanessa, Cindy, and Loan. I will always be grateful to my parents for
ix
x Acknowledgments
having supported me on a path that they did not understand and for having under-
stood the pitfalls that stood in the way of this project. Above all, thank you for teach-
ing me to follow my dreams and to be persistent enough to accomplish them.
Finally, I want to thank my partner, Michael, and the kids, Xavier and Thane, for
being patient and loving in the face of many late nights and weekend work sessions.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all the others who are not named here
because of lack of space, I have not forgotten you! I would like to conclude by
expressing my solidarity with the groups that are still mobilizing today for memory
and human rights in countries emerging from conflict. Your historic struggle for
truth, justice, and memory continues to be a source of inspiration for me, and I hope
to contribute to a broader understanding of Chilean memory struggles outside of
South America.
