Remembering Pinochet's Chile: On the Eve of London 1998 (review)

Stern's book on contentious memory in Chile could hardly be more timely. In late 2004, the Chilean government released a detailed report on torture committed by the military government (1973–1990) of General Augusto Pinochet, which reignited a long simmering public debate about how to interpret and judge the past.

Stern combines oral history with political history to weave together his theoretical analysis, and he is careful to examine a wide range of viewpoints, using the image of a "giant, collectively built memory box" for the country (xxvii). Within this memory box are different views of the past, or "emblematic memories." Stern identifies four main memory frameworks: memory as salvation (those who view the military as saving the country), memory as unresolved rupture (those who experienced state violence and remain haunted), memory as persecution and awakening (similar to rupture, but involving greater self-discovery as a result), and memory as a closed box (those who believe the past should no longer be brought up and that human-rights abuses are exaggerated).

One of many valuable insights is the analysis of civilian supporters of the military government. The victims of human-rights abuses and the military protagonists who committed them have received considerable scholarly attention, but the fascinating complexity of "memory as salvation" is less often explored. For example, one interviewee, who argued that the coup saved the country from the Socialists, neatly sidestepped the human-rights issue by affirming that more people would have been killed had the military not intervened: "How many deaths there would have been, what would have happened to the country if these people [emphasis added] end up continuing in power?" (29). Although, as Stern himself admits, memory as salvation can be offensive when it masks persecution, it still remains an important part of memory lore.

A drawback to an otherwise excellent book is the decision to introduce the human stories before the theory, which is woven into later chapters. At the very least, it would have been useful to explain more clearly the different types of memory in the introduction. Instead, it can be difficult when reading the initial stories to see clearly how they form part of the theoretical whole. The introduction of memory "knots," or contentious issues that society is forced to address, is not made explicit until Chapter 4, even though they represent a critical aspect of collective Chilean memory and, as such, are another contribution of the book.

Stern also argues that six criteria influence the ability of those who share a particular part of the memory box to convince others of its validity: historicity, authenticity, capaciousness and flexibility, projection into public or semipublic places, embodiment in a convincing social referent, and effective carriers or spokespersons. These criteria are discussed in only a few pages toward the end of the book, even though they constitute one of the most important parts of the overall analysis. Public debate over memory in Chile is so prevalent that the question of how (or whether) advocates of one emblematic memory advance their own version of history deserves greater attention. To be fair, this book is only the first in a trilogy. The other two books, which will address the dictatorship and post-dictatorship eras, should flesh out the many ideas presented in the first installment.