Memory’s Turn: Reckoning with Dictatorship in Brazil

190 Pages·2014·1.333 MB·English

by  Rebecca J. Atencio

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Memory’s Turn
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Crit i cal Human Rights
Se ries Ed i tors
Steve J. Stern  Scott Straus
Books in the ser ies Crit i cal Human Rights em pha size re search that opens
new ways to think about and under stand human rights. The se ries val ues
in par tic u lar em pir i cally grounded and in tel lec tu ally open re search that
es chews sim plified ac counts of human rights events and pro cesses.
Human rights atroc ities cat a lyze de mands for jus tice and rec og ni tion. But
schol ar ship often di vides into sep ar ate streams. Tran si tional jus tice stud ies
focus on in sti tu tional re sponses to mend harm, such as truth com mis sions,
crim i nal pros e cu tions, pen sions, and me mo ri als. Cul tural stud ies an a lyze
ex pres sive work such as me moirs, lit er a ture and the arts, and cin ema to
pro mote a mem ory of never again. Yet does ac tiv ity in one realm af fect the
other? Memory’s Turn prov ides an ing e ni ous twist by traci ng multid i rec tional
lev er ag ing ef fects for the ex treme case of Bra zil, whose long mil i tary dic tat or­
ship (1964–85) re sorted to mas sive tor ture yet gave way to a de moc racy of
ap par ent in dif fer ence. The re sult is un com mon theo ret i cal in sight on inter­
plays of cul ture and in sti tu tional pol i tics dur ing and after state terr or, and an
es sen tial back story to the truth com mis sion work fi nally un fold ing in
twenty­first­century Bra zil.
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 Memory’s Turn
Reck on ing with Dic tat or ship
in Bra zil
Re becca J. Aten cio
The Uni ver sity of Wis con sin Press
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Printed in the United States of Amer ica
Li brary of Cong ress Cataloging­in­Publication Data
Aten cio, Re becca J., au thor.
Memory’s turn: recko ni ng with dic tat or ship in Bra zil / Re becca J. Aten cio.
pages cm — (Crit i cal human rights)
Inc ludes bib lio graph i cal ref er ences and index.
ISBN 978­0­299­29724­4 (pbk.: alk. paper)
ISBN 978­0­299­29723­7 (e­book)
1. Dic tat or ship—Bra zil—His tory—20th cen tury. 2. Col lec tive mem ory—Bra zil. 3. Col lec tive
mem ory and lit er a ture—Bra zil. 4. Human rights—Bra zil—His tory—20th cen tury.
5. Braz il—Hist ory—1964–1985. 6. Bra zil—His tory—1985–2002. 7. Bra zil—His tory—
2003–. I. Title. II. Se ries: Crit i cal human rights.
F2538.25.A84 2014
981.06—dc23
2013041210
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For
Chris
Nich ol as
Julia
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Con tents
List of Ill us tra tions ix
Ac knowl edg ments xi
List of Ab bre vi a tions xvii
Intro duc tion: The Turn to Mem ory in
Bra zil ian Cul ture and Pol i tics 3
1 Tes ti mo nies and the Am nesty Law 28
2 A Prime­Time Min is er ies and Im peach ment 59
3 Lit er ary and Of fi cial Truth­Telling 82
4 From Tor ture Cen ter to Stage and Site
of Mem ory 99
Con clu sion: Memory’s Turns and Re turns 122
Notes 131
Bib liog ra phy 151
Index 163
vii
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Il lus tra tions
Show ing marks of tor ture in Anos re beldes 63
João and Maria Lúcia in a 1968 protest march 65
Heloísa’s death scene 68
The DOPS buildi ng in São Paulo 100
The Me mo rial da Li ber dade 101
The pro logue of Lem brar é re sis tir 106
Pro gram for Lem brar é re sis tir 107
Discussing political repression in Lem brar é re sis tir 111
The Me mo rial da Re sis tên cia 119
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