Accounting for Violence: Marketing Memory in Latin America

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments In the narrowest and most technical sense that the concept of truth implies, we could say that this book grew out of the panel on Truth-Telling in the Aftermath of Atrocity at the Latin American Studies Association meeting in Montreal. Drawing on the marketing notion, the book should also be thought of as a product, a product of a particular convergence of thinking that emerged while reflecting on the price and the cost of memory and memorializing trauma in Latin America. Rather than staying up into the early hours of the morning at the gran baile, we instead outlined the book in the hotel hallway from notes that we scribbled during dinner onto a notepad with the words “Let It Go.” And we did. lasa and its unique ability to create intellectual space for interdisciplinary dialogue, therefore, deserve acknowledgment. The Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin– Madison organized a follow-up conference and workshop, which allowed the authors to present their work and receive critical feedback on it. As a show of appreciation for that support, all proceeds from this book will go to one of its funds supporting research on Latin America. A number of other organizations shared in the funding of the conference, including several University of Wisconsin–Madison sources, such as the Anonymous Fund, the Mellon Foundation Workshops in the Humanities, the Trauma Tourism Research Circle, and the Cyril W. Nave Endowment. The Université de Montréal and George Mason University provided additional support for the Memory Market conference. We are indebted to numerous scholars who participated in various phases of the project. Among those who presented their work and comments at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, we particularly thank Severino Albuquerque, Glen Close, Geneviève Dorais, Paola Hernández, Alexandra Huneeus, Yeri López, Nicolás Lynch, Sarli Mercado, Elisa Shoenberger, Kristina Stanek, Steve Stern, and Djurdja Trajković. Additional participants at lasa and beyond who inspired and creatively shaped this project include Kate Doyle, Anne Pérotin-Dumon, Victoria Sanford, David Sheinin, and Alex Wilde. Our colleagues at the University of Wisconsin–Madison who xiv | Acknowledgments provided both intellectual and administrative guidance include Jo Ellen Fair, Sara Guyer, Deborah Jenson, Guido Podestá, and Neil Whitehead. The staff at the Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies Program contributed their time and assistance cheerfully and generously, particularly Angela Buongiorno, Alice Cassidy, Valeria Galetto, Darcy Little, Sarah Ripp, and Alberto Vargas. Many scholars who shaped our thinking about the project did not carry out specific roles, and yet should not go unidentified. In particular, we thank Hugo Achugar, Idelber Avelar, Louis Bickford, Branko Andjić, Hiber Conteris, Jason Doroga, Robert Folger, Courtney Kay Lanz, Ana María Shua, and Nora Strejilevich. From the very beginning of this project to the very end, we drew on Andrew Reiter to help us manage the production of a book written in various countries of the world by extremely busy individuals. We particularly thank him for his patience, efficiency, and good humor. Elisabeth Becker, Alice Nelson, and Kathleen Pertzborn provided invaluable editing of some chapters, for which we are extremely grateful. Steve Meili and Brad and Carol Ricker helped at various stages of the project. We would also like to acknowledge our editors, Valerie Millholland, Miriam Angress, Gisela Fosado, and Neal McTighe at Duke University Press, the anonymous reviewers for the Press, and our copyeditor, Ruth Steinberg, and indexer, Carol Roberts. From the middle of the story of our lives, we dedicate this book to our friendship. We met early in our professional careers and have grown up together. We have learned from each other in ways that go far beyond what language can capture. Through some difficult times and many celebrations , our friendship has endured. We have enjoyed the process of learning each other’s ways of seeing, not only through different disciplinary prisms but also through our varied experiences and cultural journeys. the editors’ royalties from the sale of this book will be directed to the Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, to support subsequent research and writing on topics related to memory, human rights, and political violence. a c c o u n t i n g f o r v i o l e n c e ...