Reckoning with Pinochet: The Memory Question in Democratic Chile, 1989–2006

Reckoning with Pinochet: The Memory Question in Democratic Chile, 1989–2006 (Duke University Press, 2010) Steve J. Stern, vice provost for faculty and staff programs and Alberto Flores Galindo Professor of History.

As director of what was then the Latin American and Iberian studies program in the early 1990s, Steve Stern already had the “dirty wars” of South American political turmoil on his radar. However, he also had a more personal connection to Chile. Through his spouse, fellow professor Florencia Mallon, he had close contact with family members living under the regime of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

So when Stern received a remarkable letter from Santiago’s Catholic Vicariate of Solidarity, it planted a seed that flowered for over a decade. The vicariate offered to share its extensive notes on judicial cases related to “the disappeared” — people kidnapped by security forces and tortured or executed, never to be seen again. The national importance of the vicariate’s human rights work, along with that of its sister vicariates across the country, spurred Stern to action.

“The human touch of that letter very powerfully moved me,” says Stern. “Although I didn’t know it at the time, that letter told me, ‘Steve, there will be a time when you will have such energy for this work that it will carry you through, no matter what.’”

In the final volume of his trilogy (The Memory Box of Pinochet’s Chile), Stern shows how Chile’s transition into the post-Pinochet era forged a new model for dealing with such a difficult legacy. Instead of trying to forget that atrocities had occurred (as with post-Franco Spain), Chile used multiple approaches to acknowledge the unwelcome past while building a more accountable democracy for the future. These efforts paved the way for similar transitions in South Africa, Peru and other parts of Latin America.

“They said, ‘Even if you can’t do everything at once, let’s start with a truth commission and principles that cannot be renounced’ — justice, human rights,” says Stern. “You have to start somewhere.”

The book’s has a chapter structure, and each section contains an afterword with a vignette, story or twist to illuminate the same events. By examining street activity, funerals, and even jokes, Stern keeps these individual experiences from getting lost in the larger story.

Given his dual campus roles, Stern has many tasks to complete each day. Rising at 4:30 a.m., the morning is filled with scholarlywork, teaching or administrative duties. Afternoons are reserved for meetings. He often works well into the evening to teach, catch up or read.

With his carefully measured sense of time, it’s no wonder that he describes his work in Chile as “being awake for 12 years.”

“I’ll always feel blessed to teach at a university like UW–Madison,” says Stern. “We bring the passion of what we’re discovering directly into the classroom, and help people discover the excitement of being able to work in that way. That’s a real privilege.”