Chilean History and the Sine Wave Changing Interpretations of Pinochet's Dictatorship

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Marivic Wyndham
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6496-8753
Peter Read
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5108-4369

Abstract

Continuing their studies of post-Pinochet memorials in Chile, the authors analyse a recent trend in the interpretation of trauma sites in Santiago which regards the need to resolve the tensions raised by the Pinochet years as more important than dwelling in detail on what was visited upon the victims. We argue that this significant shift from previous interpretations is carried by the younger generation of guides who did not undergo the repression personally. We note these changes with approbation, while noting that the desire not to discuss the worst excesses of the Pinochet regime has led to to a corresponding downplay of the highest points of human experience manifested by the victims themselves. We cite several instances that mark a peak of human experience in Chilean history, and suggest that several might well be used by the site interpreters to further instil a sense of pride among Chilean young people, rather than despair.

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Author Biography

Marivic Wyndham, UTS

Marivic Wyndham is a Senior Lecturer in the School of International Studies, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences.  She is In-Country Study Co-Ordinator for Chile and Argentina, and teaches and co-ordinates Human Rights in Hispanophone Societies (Spanish 7) and US/Latin America Relations (Spanish 8).   More recent research has focused on issues of custodianship of place and the politics of memorialisation in the Latin America region, in particular Cuba and Chile.  Several publications have emerged from this research, the most recent (co-authored with Professor Peter Read) being Narrow but Endessly Deep: the struggle for memorialisation in Chile since the transition to democracy (2016) and a revised Spanish translation Sin descansar en mi memoria: la lucha por la creacion de sitios de memoria en Chile desde la transicion a la democracia (2917).  Her current research project focuses on children of the Cold War, in particular in Chile and Argentina.