Table Of ContentEruptions of Memory
Critical South
The publication of this series was made possible with the
support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Nelly Richard, Eruptions of Memory
Eruptions of Memory
The Critique of Memory in Chile, 1990–2015
Nelly Richard
Translated by Andrew Ascherl
polity
First published in Spanish as Latencias y sobresaltos de la memoria inconclusa
(Chile 1990–2015) © Eduvim, Villa María, 2017, 1st ed.
This English edition © Polity Press, 2019
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ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-3227-8
ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-3228-5 (pb)
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Names: Richard, Nelly, author. | Richard, Nelly. Critica de la memoria,
1990-2010.
Title: Eruptions of memory : the critique of memory in Chile, 1990-2015 /
Nelly Richard.
Description: Cambridge, UK ; Medford, MA, USA : Polity Press, [2018] |
Compilation of essays, many of which originally published in: Critica de
la memoria, 1990-2010. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018019581 (print) | LCCN 2018034584 (ebook) | ISBN
9781509532308 (Epub) | ISBN 9781509532278 | ISBN 9781509532285 (pb)
Subjects: LCSH: Collective memory--Political aspects--Chile. | Protest
movements--Chile. | Political violence--Chile. | Politics and
culture--Chile. | Chile--History--1988-
Classification: LCC F3101.3 (ebook) | LCC F3101.3 .R534 2018 (print) | DDC
306.20983--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018019581
Typeset in 10.5 on 12.5pt Sabon
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Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon
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Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Translator’s Note ix
Introduction: The Struggle for Words – Graciela Montaldo x
Prologue xxiii
1 Traces of Violence, Rhetoric of Consensus, and
Subjective Dislocations 1
2 Women in the Streets: A War of Images 12
3 Torments and Obscenities 24
4 Confessions of a Torturer and His (Abusive)
Journalistic Assemblage 42
5 Coming and Going 57
6 Architectures, Stagings, and Narratives of the Past 71
7 Two Stagings of the Memory of YES and NO 91
8 Past–Present: Symbolic Displacements of the
Figure of the Victim 103
vi Contents
9 Media Explosion of Memory in September 2013 115
10 Commemoration of the 40th Anniversary of the
Military Coup … and Afterwards 137
Notes 153
Bibliography 173
Index 177
Acknowledgments
Many people have contributed to this project, amongst them
Andrew Ascherl, who has produced a careful and attentive
translation; Sergio Villalobos-Ruminott (University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA) and an anonymous reader who
reviewed the translation; and Graciela Montaldo (Columbia
University, USA), who wrote the introduction, and Julia
Sanches who translated it. At Polity, Sunandini Banerjee
created a beautiful cover design and Neil de Cort oversaw
the production process. The project was expertly managed
by Paul Young at Polity and Ozge Kocak and Tristan
Bradshaw at Northwestern University, USA. In addition,
Penelope Deutscher (Northwestern University), thoughtfully
shepherded the publication through its various stages.
The International Consortium of Critical Theory Programs
gratefully acknowledges the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
for its support through grants to Northwestern University
and the University of California, Berkeley, which have
made possible the translation and publication of Nelly
Richard’s Latencias y sobresaltas de la memoria inconclusa
(Eruptions of Memory) as part of the Consortium’s Critical
South series. Those involved in Eruptions of Memory thank
the international editorial board of Critical South: Natalia
Brizuela, Co-Chair (University of California, Berkeley, USA),
Judith Butler, ex officio (University of California, Berkeley,
viii Acknowledgments
USA), Gisela Catanzaro (Universidad de Buenos Aires,
Argentina), Victoria Collis-Buthelezi (WiSER, University of
the Witwatersrand, South Africa), Souleymane Bachir Diagne
(Columbia University, USA), Rosaura Martínez (Universidad
Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico), Leticia Sabsay,
Co-Chair (London School of Economics and Political Science,
United Kingdom / Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina),
Vladimir Safatle (Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil), Felwine
Sarr (Université Gaston Berger de Saint-Louis, Senegal), and
Françoise Vergès (Collège d’études mondiales, France).
Finally, the project would not of course have been possible
without Nelly Richard herself, who kindly made available
the pre-published Spanish-language edition of the work and
provided valuable assistance. Collaborating with several
parties listed above, she nominated the translator and trans-
lation reviewer, liaised with her publisher, and provided the
images that appear in this edition.
Anna Parkinson, Northwestern University
Translator’s Note
A number of the citations in the original Spanish edition
of this book refer to texts originally published in languages
other than Spanish. I have endeavored in all of these
instances to use published English translations (or the original
English text as the case may be). All translations of Spanish
language sources for which no published English translation
is available are my own. Any explanatory end notes that I
have added to this translation appear in square brackets [ ]
and are signed “—Tr.”
AA
