Remembering a Different Future: Dissident Memories and Identities in Contemporary Chilean Culture
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Remembering a Different Future: Dissident Memories and Identities in Contemporary Chilean Culture By Jon Preston A thesis submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Victoria University of Wellington 2017 Esto no está muerto, No me lo mataron, Ni con la distancia, Ni con el vil soldado. – Silvio Rodríguez, ‘Santiago de Chile’ Más allá de todas las derrotas, la memoria de los vencidos es la que hace la historia. – Carmen Castillo El olvido está lleno de memoria. – Mario Benedetti Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................. vi Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 1 Conflict in Chilean History: Memory, Identity, Trauma, and Memorialisation ............... 7 Historical Background............................................................................................................ 7 Theoretical and Critical Debates .......................................................................................... 22 Chapter 2 Portrayals of Contemporary Mapuche Identity and Worldview: The Mapurbe Poetry of David Aniñir ........................................................................................................................... 38 Mapuche Tradition and Rural Mapuche Poets ..................................................................... 44 The Dual Mapuche Politics of Aniñir’s Poetry .................................................................... 49 The Mapuche Cause as the Pinnacle of all Social and Political Struggles .......................... 57 Dialogues with Popular and Erudite Forms of the Dominant Culture ................................. 71 Hybridity and Heterogeneity ................................................................................................ 77 Chapter 3 Recollections of Past Trauma: The Autobiographical Works of Carmen Castillo ......... 88 Un día de octubre en Santiago: An Obsession with the Traumatic Past ............................. 95 Calle Santa Fe: A Mature Reflection on Past Trauma ....................................................... 106 Chapter 4 Homages to Victims of the Dictatorship: Urban and Rural Sites of Memory in Chile . 121 Santiago’s Memory Sites ................................................................................................... 122 Londres 38 Espacio de Memorias and Parque por la Paz Villa Grimaldi ...................... 123 Estadio Nacional and Casa Memoria José Domingo Cañas ........................................... 128 Rural Sites of Memory: Paine and Neltume....................................................................... 136 The Concept of ‘Trauma Sites’ in Chilean Memorialisation ............................................. 146 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 167 Bibliography ......................................................................................................................... 173 iii Abstract There have been two key episodes of conflict in the history of Chile since independence upon which contemporary Chilean society has arguably been founded. The first was the military domination of the indigenous Mapuche by the state, known as the ‘Pacificación de la Araucanía’, which spanned two decades between 1861 and 1883. The second commenced in 1973 with the coup d’état against the democratically elected president, Salvador Allende, and continued for 16-and-a-half years as Chile was ruled by Augusto Pinochet’s civic-military dictatorship. These conflicts and their far-reaching consequences form the basis for ongoing disputes in Chilean society today, despite the efforts of official state discourses to silence and gloss over these divisive events in the name of reconciliation and governability. This thesis examines a selection of forms of contemporary cultural production that interact with Chile’s conflictive past and challenge official discourses of silence and forgetting. These cultural texts include the poetry of David Aniñir, the autobiographical books and films of Carmen Castillo, and sites of memory honouring victims of the dictatorship. Between them, they represent and reflect upon the historic and contemporary oppression of the Mapuche, repression and human rights abuses during Pinochet’s dictatorship, and the ongoing debates and struggles over this past and its consequences in the present. This study employs a range of theoretical frameworks, given the varied nature of its subject matter. The analysis of Aniñir’s poetry relies on key concepts from Latin American cultural criticism, such as Antonio Cornejo Polar’s heterogeneity and Néstor García Canclini’s hybridity. The study of Castillo’s work draws on trauma studies, including concepts such as acting out and working through, as theorised by Dominick LaCapra, and the competing notion of working toward, in addition to Dori Laub’s work on survivor testimony and critical debates around the concept of nostalgia. Scholarship on memory studies and memorialisation frames the examination of sites of memory, including Maurice Halbwachs’s conceptualisation of collective memory and Pierre Nora’s foundational work on lieux de mémoire. In particular, Patrizia Violi’s notion of ‘trauma sites’ is central to the theoretical debate on the subject of Chilean memorialisation. Overall, this thesis seeks to contribute to scholarship by offering original and innovative readings of all three cultural forms, and analyses both well-known cultural texts in their respective fields and others that have received little critical attention to date. Moreover, it is one of the first works to juxtapose and explicitly consider the links between the plights of the iv Mapuche and the victims of Pinochet’s dictatorship through a study of their cultural representations. Consequently, this thesis broadens the focus of historical memory in Chilean cultural studies, which has typically centred on the context of the dictatorship, to also encompass the experiences of Chile’s largest indigenous culture. v Acknowledgements First and foremost, this thesis would have been inconceivable without the unconditional love and support of my wife, Francisca. She has been my rock throughout the ups and downs of this thesis and life in general. Her love and friendship opened a completely new world to me: without her I would be incomplete, would never have had such an interest in Chile, and this thesis would most probably have not come to fruition. Our beautiful daughter, Emilia, has lightened our world and is our joy and treasure. This thesis is dedicated to both of you and our future as a family. My parents and brothers have been a constant source of support and encouragement, for which I am always grateful. My parents- and sisters-in-law have been keenly interested in my critical perspective on Chilean society and history over the years, and their enthusiasm regarding the relevance of my study has meant a lot to me. And my Nana, who passed away while this thesis was under examination, was always supportive of my studies; she was generous enough to financially contribute to my undergraduate studies, which laid the foundation for my postgraduate research, and I wish she had been able to read some of my completed thesis. It has been a thoroughly enriching and enjoyable experience to conduct research and write this thesis under the supervision of Dr Miguel Arnedo-Gómez and Professor Sarah Leggott. They initially provided me with the freedom to explore different perspectives and subject matter, and then prompted me to clarify the critical direction I wanted to take. Their detailed advice and criticism, and the intellectual challenges stemming from our discussions, have played a key role in my professional development and have helped me to grow as a researcher. I cannot thank them enough for their guidance and mentoring over the years. I would also like to thank my examiners – Dr Carolina Miranda, Dr Kathryn Lehman and Dr Antonio Traverso – for their detailed responses to my thesis and our productive discussion during my oral examination. I sincerely appreciate the time they devoted to my thesis and keenness to engage with me and my research. The Spanish and Latin American Studies Programme at Victoria University has always been fully supportive of me throughout my undergraduate and postgraduate studies, particularly Dr Nicola Gilmour. As my first lecturer in Spanish at Victoria, she challenged me from an early stage to fulfil my academic potential and to find my passion in the subject. She was also instrumental in proposing and facilitating my overseas exchange to Chile in 2008, vi which was a turning point for me both personally and professionally. It fitted in perfectly with the chance to follow Francisca and my heart across the Pacific, and gave me the opportunity to immerse myself in Chilean culture and society. After a stint supervising my Honours dissertation, Dr Ross Woods took me under his wing once again – not in a supervisory capacity this time, but more in terms of guiding me through both the general process of completing a PhD and life after the PhD, as well as giving me