Dictatorship In Uruguay Research Articles

The political partnership between Israel and authoritarian Uruguay, 1972–1980

ABSTRACT Between 1972 and 1980, Israel and authoritarian Uruguay developed a political partnership based on their shared self-perception as misunderstood Western bastions fighting terrorism and the proxies of communist expansion, as well as shared concerns about détente and Western human rights discourse. While Uruguay remained the most consequential anti-PLO South American regime, Israel helped the Uruguayan dictatorship manipulate public opinion and cover up antisemitism and Nazi sympathies within its repressive apparatus. When dealing with the effects of Uruguayan repression of leftist Jews, Israeli diplomats tended to prioritise their alliance with the regime over their ethnic-ideological commitment to Jewish solidarity.

Alfabetización informacional en los archivos de derechos humanos del Uruguay: una discusión sobre su relevancia

A reflection on the relevance of conducting information literacy studies and its justification is presented from the archives and documentation centers related to the information regarding human rights violations in periods of state terrorism and the last civic-military dictatorship in Uruguay. This discussion becomes important in consideration of the relevance of the information they protect and the specific characteristics of their users when accessing and consulting binding documentation on this topic. It starts from a brief contextualization of the period of illegitimate action of the Uruguayan state and then moves on to regulatory actions for the restoration of democracy and within a transitional justice framework. Consequently, the dimension of the so-called human rights archives in Uruguay is addressed and academic studies of information literacy are reviewed. The need to apply informative human behavior studies for the identification of categories of users in archival information services is recognized. Lastly, the importance of developing informative competences in this type of information services is raised, in support of the search for truth and justice, as well as reparation actions.

Alfabetización informacional en los archivos de derechos humanos del Uruguay: una discusión sobre su relevancia

A reflection on the relevance of conducting information literacy studies and its justification is presented from the archives and documentation centers related to the information regarding human rights violations in periods of state terrorism and the last civic-military dictatorship in Uruguay. This discussion becomes important in consideration of the relevance of the information they protect and the specific characteristics of their users when accessing and consulting binding documentation on this topic. It starts from a brief contextualization of the period of illegitimate action of the Uruguayan state and then moves on to regulatory actions for the restoration of democracy and within a transitional justice framework. Consequently, the dimension of the so-called human rights archives in Uruguay is addressed and academic studies of information literacy are reviewed. The need to apply informative human behavior studies for the identification of categories of users in archival information services is recognized. Lastly, the importance of developing informative competences in this type of information services is raised, in support of the search for truth and justice, as well as reparation actions.

The Exhibition <i>Meet Them</i> as a Tool for Shaping Historical Memory in Uruguay

Using the example of the exhibition Meet Them ( Encontrarte con Ellos ) at the J.M. Blanes Museum of Fine Arts (Montevideo, Uruguay), the article examines the process of reflection on the tragic events of national history, namely the crimes of the 1970s–1980s Uruguayan dictatorship. The research focuses on the question of whether the commemoration of painful experiences is able to consolidate societies by means of discussion and reflection. The process of the collective memory building within the Uruguayan society is considered on the example of the creative initiative of intellectuals undertaken within the framework of the exhibition. They created works, beyond specific genres and concepts, that told the stories of political dissidents who had been abducted and then disappeared. These works are based on real testimonies and designed not to let the history fade in silence. The data collection, which was mandatory for the artists participating in the project, is viewed as a significant and unique investigative feature that, while demanding additional effort from the artists, made the exhibition stand out. It appears as an elaborate sociocultural project that combines documentary evidence with visual images of the silent victims of political repression created by the artists, and the museum of affect in this case serves as a place of memory. Several pieces presented at the exhibition are considered from the point of view of symbolic and creative interpretation of memories and data gathered by the artists, as well as their impressions and sometimes personal stories and experiences intertwined with the story of a particular victim gone missing. However, the manipulative effect of collective memory as a phenomenon, which has historically been actively employed by certain political forces and leaders to increase popularity and gain support, is taken into account. The project is aimed at raising public awareness of the issues on which the artists elaborated through their work, so under certain conditions the exhibition can be conducive to the construction of national and local identities among Uruguayans. The concept of the exhibition favors the achievement of these objectives, but only over time will it be possible to evaluate the extent to which they have been met. At the same time, the reaction of some influential figures to this initiative, as well as significant steps taken by public institutions in order to provide support for commemorative initiatives have shown that a certain part of the Uruguayan elite is generally tilted toward the acceptance of such manifestations of civic engagement.

Feminist Ironic Montage to Dismantle Gender Essentialism

Feminist Ironic Montage to Dismantle Gender Essentialism Isabel Seguí (bio) and Marina Cavalcanti Tedesco (bio) Comparing Woman's World (María Luisa Bemberg, AR, 1972) and Miss Universe in Peru (Chaski Group, PE, 1982)1 One day, out of the blue, Marina proposed to Isabel to write something together about two Latin American feminist documentaries, Woman's World (Original title: El mundo de la mujer, 15') and Miss Universe in Peru (Original title: Miss Universo en el Perú, 39'). Marina thought both works share epochal (thematic, political, and formal) similarities. Isabel felt the same to such a degree that, serendipitously, not long before receiving Marina's proposal, she had asked Alejandro Legaspi if he was influenced by Woman's World when he edited Miss Universe in Peru. Isabel thought that Legaspi could have had the chance of watching the short documentary in Montevideo or Buenos Aires before fleeing to Peru due to the dictatorship in Uruguay. The answer was no. Legaspi had never heard of Women's World before. Notwithstanding, we decided that a collaborative comparison of both films was worthwhile. After agreeing with the editors of Framework, we started working on it. As for the similarities, both documentaries question the dualism imposed from a patriarchal gender structure in which women are assigned particular roles and obligations. Woman's World is an early María Luisa Bemberg film. She will go on to become the foremost female filmmaker in Argentina. This work, her opera prima as a director, responds straightforwardly to a feminist agenda. It was shot entirely at the Femimundo '72 trade fair, a commercial event focused on women as a fast-growing market, held in Buenos Aires in 1972. The small crew led by Bemberg captured footage in the exhibition halls. Once in [End Page 62] the editing room, she created a vivid, humorous montage to reflect on the construction of a feminine identity based on traditional values of submission and service, and how capitalism has exacerbated this millenary oppression to take economic advantage of it. Emphasis is placed on the theme of the tyranny of beauty. For women forced to be the object of male desire, the beauty industry offers, in exchange for money, all kinds of devices that will make them more palatable: clothing, cosmetics, hairdressing, gymnastic equipment, and so on. The (self) objectification of women is a gold mine. And two birds are killed with one stone: social control and economic gain. Coincidentally, Miss Universe in Peru is the first film of the Peruvian group Chaski, a film collective that follows the Third Cinema tradition.2 The documentary is constructed around the opposition between two events celebrated in Lima in July 1982: the Miss Universe contest and the VI Congress of the Peruvian Confederation of Peasants. The television business that is the contest for the election of the most beautiful woman in the world imposes a global beauty canon, in addition to being a very lucrative enterprise. But Miss Universe in Peru not only denounces and ridicules the American contest, it puts forward a sour criticism of the matrix of domination and its propaganda tools, but also allows us to witness the political practice of organized women who resist the Western heteropatriarchal and capitalist mandate. In addition, the women represented in Miss Universe in Peru belong to all social classes, with the special participation of indigenous women, who, with a defiant gaze, challenge the manipulation attempted by corporate patriarchy. This is a significant difference vis-à-vis Woman's World, where we mostly see white middle-class women on screen. Following a closer analysis, we realized that many other aspects of the film-making processes and the enunciative voice bear remarkable differences. María Luisa Bemberg, born in 1922, was from a very privileged background.3 She did not access formal education, and, like the women of her class, she was mostly prepared for marriage. However, her knowledge of foreign languages and the possibilities of travelling abroad granted her access to the feminist discussions that were taking place in the 1960s. She was an avid reader of French, Italian, and American feminist theory. Leonor Calvera (in Rodríguez and Ciriza) highlights that Bemberg and Gabriela Christeller...

The affective construction of others’ experience: A cross-cultural comparison of youth's responses to a film about the Uruguayan dictatorship

Popular culture connects us to people who have other histories and cultures. This qualitative study aims to analyze how the representation of others’ suffering in films affects youths’ empathy towards others different from them in terms of generation and cultural distance. We explore how empathy is expressed as semiotic processes of feelings and meanings in a contrastive cross-cultural case study. Using data collected from two college level language classrooms in two different countries (Uruguay and Chile) from two groups (one of regular university students and one of study abroad students), we contrast youths’ responses to a film about violations of human rights during the Uruguayan military dictatorship (Migas de Pan, 2016). The film's representation of the violation of human rights experienced by young people during the dictatorship enables audiences to identify with the protagonist in spite of the temporal and cultural distance that separates them. Our findings suggest that the semiotic construction of feelings distinguishes the degree and intensity of youths’ understanding of others’ experiences. The conclusion discusses how personal trajectories and sociocultural identities influence the meaning making process of past experiences. Finally, we explore possible educational implications of these findings.

A Space Odyssey: Decoding the Reality of Dictatorship in Carolina de Robertis’s Cantoras

By turns brutal and beautiful, Carolina de Robertis’s 2019 novel Cantoras explores twelve years of violent Uruguayan dictatorship where five women of different ages, social, economic, and familial circumstances are yet all equally affected by misogyny, homophobia, and political repression. The women come together to create a haven of freedom wherein to navigate their sexuality without being criminalized, in the middle of a place where freedom for a better future seems to belong to “another bohemian era of dreams.” Pieced together from the real-life oral narratives and testimonies of hundreds, lost or silenced in the mainstream din, the novel brings to life a portrait of queer love and forgotten history unlike any other. This essay aims a close reading of the socio-political environment of the novel from dictatorship to the revolution which makes the journey that these women take from social isolation to widespread acceptance, their achievements, losses, and resilience shine all the more.

Formación docente bajo sospecha. Análisis curricular de las Ciencias Sociales en el trayecto formativo de los maestros en la última dictadura cívico-militar en Uruguay (1973 – 1985)

El presente artículo tiene por objetivo analizar los principales cambios ideológicos y epistémicos que en la última dictadura cívico–militar desarrollada en Uruguay (1973-1985) se operaron a nivel de la formación docente, especialmente en magisterio. El foco empírico se asienta en el análisis de los cambios institucionales y curriculares que se efectuaron a partir de la segunda mitad de los años setenta. Interesa, apreciar el entramado discursivo que sustentó las reformas. Los significantes guerra interna y peligro ante el avance del marxismo internacional se estructuraron en el marco de la llamada Doctrina de la Seguridad Nacional que sirvió de fundamento de las reformas institucionales y curriculares del período. Asumiendo que los currículos se configuran en discursos normativos en el espacio escolar procurando prescribir lo representable y transmisible en cada contexto histórico – social se hará foco en las finalidades formativas, en los contenidos y en la bibliografía de los planes y programas de la formación docente. Se hará énfasis en la asignatura Ciencias Sociales de Formación del núcleo básico común del plan de formación docente en tanto en esta se condensan, los lineamientos propositivos e ideológicos del régimen. La hipótesis que guía el trabajo heurístico se puede formular de la siguiente manera: la lógica estructuradora interna que predominó en el plan y en los programas del núcleo común de 1977 de magisterio se caracterizó por un énfasis ideológico que supuso una minimización epistemológica y un desconocimiento del trabajo acumulado, especialmente, en determinadas disciplinas del área social como el de las Ciencias Sociales.

Intermittences: Memory, Justice, & the Poetics of the Visible in Uruguay by Ana Forcinito

Reviewed by: Intermittences: Memory, Justice, & the Poetics of the Visible in Uruguay by Ana Forcinito Inela Selimović (bio) Ana Forcinito, Intermittences: Memory, Justice, & the Poetics of the Visible in Uruguay (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2018) ISBN: 13: 978–0–8229–6566–4, 257 pages. As one of the leading scholars in her field, Ana Forcinito has made another significant cross-disciplinary contribution with Intermittences: Memory, Justice, & the Poetics of the Visible in Uruguay. The book's cross-disciplinary spirit remains intact and multidimensional throughout, helping us to understand the complexities of the recent Uruguayan dictatorship, both from within and beyond Latin American memory studies. Forcinito's book begins with a layered question that involves, above all, "the meaning of what is remembered—both individually and collectively—and the disputes over those meanings" after state terrorism and during Uruguay's transitional justice period.1 Focusing on cultural production in eight chapters, the author coins the term "intermittences of memory" in order to dissect the processes during which official mnemonic outcomes and forms of remembrance become questioned, countered, and interrupted. According to Forcinito, "intermittences of memory are precisely those attempts to make visible (and audible) the battles over oblivion and silence, and thus to construct an alternative narrative about the past and to expose the blind spots of the model of peace and reconciliation."2 As an epistemic core of her book, the notion of "intermittences of memory" spotlights the role of mnemonic subjects and the ways in which they engage with remembering, forgetting, and "framing" their past in the Uruguayan post-dictatorial context.3 The book's chapters insightfully engage certain theoretical specificities from multiple discursive vantage points, including those related to human rights, law, cultural studies, memory studies, history, and philosophy. Forcinito sets the book's theoretical tone in its introduction, as she elegantly intersects several key concepts that have been instrumental for generating the notion of "intermittences of memory." We trace the author's interactions with Jacques Rancière's "the ethical turn," Pierre Nora's "sites [End Page 986] of memory," Andreas Huyssen's "places of memory," and Maurice Halbwachs's "social frameworks of memory," but also with other cultural and theoretical texts by Walter Benjamin, Julia Kristeva, Paul Ricoeaur, Roland Barthes, Susan Sontag, Judith Butler, Debra Bergoffen, and Gilles Deleuze. The Introduction primarily contextualizes the subsequent analyses within broader frameworks of human rights, memory, and transitional justice. The ensuing chapters build on and further expand the initial theoretical discussions, displaying rigorous research and rich analyses of cultural production that range from testimonio, installations, videos, photography, film, essays, and literary texts to court rulings and other evidencebased documents. While calling into play a mélange of genres, Forcinito traces the ways in which "intermittent images" ultimately "are residues or spillovers from more visible and established memories."4 Such images function as politically available catalysts for usurping the mnemonic norm in symbolic and concrete ways. Chapter 1, "Transitional Justice and the Visual Politics of Memory," connects human rights violations with cultural production "in order to rethink what becomes visible and invisible in the official cultural politics of memory."5 The chapter juxtaposes tensions between memory and transitional justice through cultural expressions that are based on evidence but also on "poetic gestures."6 The author's discussion of mnemonic inscriptions—and re-inscriptions—of the recent past through architecture is particularly insightful. In examining the transformation of the Punta Carretas penitentiary into a shopping center, for instance, Forcinito underscores the ways in which such reconstructions entail remembrance-oriented contradictions, just as they perpetuate dictatorship-driven injustice. Chapter 2, "Disappearance: Evidence and Poetics," builds on the sociopolitical and cultural context Forcinito unveils in the first two chapters and further focuses on the making of individual and social memory in order to revisit the phenomenon of "disappearances" through documentaries, novels, photography, installations, and testimonies.7 Forcinito links certain evidence-based claims to artistic endeavors in order to tackle the inevitable clashes between remembering and forgetting of Uruguay's tumultuous past. Although differently tackled, the theme of prison survivors' voices and their reinstituted subjectivities interconnects the next two chapters. Chapter 3, "Visible Voices: Testimony and Justice," centers on "the testimonial subject as a...

Educación del cuerpo y biopolítica en el Uruguay posdictadura (1985- 1990)

Este texto se enmarca en una investigación que se centra en el análisis a nivel discursivo de los cuatro programas curriculares de la Comisión Nacional de Educación Física (CNEF-Uruguay) del año 1988, siendo estos algunos de los documentos fundamentales de las políticas en Educación Física del primer quinquenio posdictatorial en Uruguay (1985- 1990). Se intenta describir las condiciones de posibilidad para el desarrollo de una forma de educación del cuerpo caracterizada por su cualidad lúdica en las referencias constantes a la recreación presentes en dichas políticas en tanto estrategias de gobierno destinada a la regulación de la población. Nos proponemos entonces, analizar la relación entre política y educación del cuerpo ante la presencia de formas que pretenden tomar distancia de las propuestas desarrolladas en el período dictatorial. Si durante la dictadura cívico militar en Uruguay (1973- 1985) se exaltaron las muestras gimnásticas y los eventos deportivos, en la vuelta a la democracia las políticas de educación del cuerpo toman la forma de lo recreativo, a pesar de, mantener el mismo espíritu: el del gobierno de la población y el cuerpo productivo.

Transformaciones de la clase trabajadora uruguaya en tiempos de dictadura (1973-1985). Estado de la cuestión y coordenadas para su estudio

El artículo presenta un estado de la cuestión que pretende facilitar un acercamiento a las transformaciones que sufrió la clase trabajadora en el marco de la última dictadura uruguaya, haciendo énfasis en una de sus principales formas de organización como es la sindical. En el período seleccionado para este artículo se procesaron una serie de transformaciones en la estructura económica, la legislación laboral y las relaciones socio-culturales que tuvieron un importante impacto en la clase trabajadora en diversos ámbitos de su desarrollo. El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar las principales fortalezas y carencias de la bibliografía existente al momento de trabajar una temática aún escasamente abordada.

Solitude and the Consent of Language: Marosa di Giorgio and Emily Dickinson

“Solitude and the Consent of Language: Marosa di Giorgio and Emily Dickinson,” examines how the Uruguayan, Marosa di Giorgio, draws from Emily Dickinson’s poetry to imagine the mind’s solitude as a recuperation of linguistic and signifying freedom within the acute context of imposed consent during the Uruguayan dictatorship. I suggest that the question at work within both poet’s oeuvre has to do with how poetic form might access the tension between what each understood as the mind’s solitude, that is, its individual interpretive processes, and the pulls of communal life, which include governmental, juridical, narrative and pedagogical systems, as they are negotiated through language. In addition to being an interdisciplinary analysis that brings together the fields of philosophy, U.S., and Latin American letters, this paper calls attention to two women writers who are rarely considered together within literary and cultural studies.

Camino Rojo from Mexico to Uruguay. Spiritual leaderships, trajectories and memory

The article describes and analyzes the process of discovery, arrival and transformation of neoshamanic group Camino Rojo in Uruguay. Following the trajectories of the organization’s leaders, psychologist Alejandro Spangenberg and his son-in-law Alejandro Corchs, whose parents disappeared during the civic-military dictatorship (1973-1985), Camino Rojo's practices, discourses and aesthetics are contextualized as part of the new forms of indigenous spirituality which have been strongly consolidated in the continent as from the 1990s. Camino Rojo is analyzed based on studies on the New Age and neoshamanism, although these limited categories are deliberately used with functional purposes in order to delimitate the case study. One of the text's main objectives is to show the specificities of the articulations that take place once Camino Rojo is unfolded in Uruguay, away from its Mexican origins. Even though the use of sacred plants such as ayahuasca, as well as other practices like sweat lodges, Vision Quest, and Sun Dance, are highly significant for Camino Rojo, the article specifically targets the articulations generated by the life trajectories of the mentioned leaders. Thus, it follows the links between Uruguay's Camino Rojo and Gestalt psychology, which adds to Corchs' strong discourse of love and forgiveness. As a result, Corchs' life trajectory, which is determined by his links to the Uruguayan dictatorship, are reconstructed, allowing him to rise as a charismatic leader with much public exposition in the media. Finally, in the last twenty years, a process of legitimation of the Camino Rojo organization is observed in Uruguay

La dictadura cívico-militar en Uruguay (1973-1985): aproximación a su periodización y caracterización a la luz de algunas teorizaciones sobre el autoritarismo

El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo presentar una periodización y caracterización de la dictadura cívico-militar en Uruguay (1973-1985), aunando la historia y la teoría. Sin proponer una aproximación específicamente histórica ni teórica, este artículo se sitúa entre ambas perspectivas. Con tal norte trazado, en primer término, se introducirá una conceptualización sobre los regímenes políticos no democráticos, y se pasará revista también al concepto de “dictadura”. Asimismo, se abordará sobre el denominado “nuevo autoritarismo” en América Latina. En segundo lugar, se presentará el marco analítico propuesto por el cientista social chileno Manuel A. Garretón (1983, 1984) para estudiar los regímenes autoritarios del Cono Sur. Seguidamente, conforme a ese esquema, se propondrá una cronología de la trayectoria de la dictadura en Uruguay, en diálogo con otras periodizaciones planteadas por la academia. Finamente, en base a los conceptos teóricos previamente reseñados, y a los aportes de autores que han trabajado el tema, se reflexionará sobre las características de la dictadura uruguaya.

Democracia en Uruguay: Educación del cuerpo y tiempo libre en el “Nuevo modelo de Educación Física” (1985-1990)

El artículo analiza las propuestas de Educación Física en el proceso de reorganización democrática luego de finalizada la última dictadura cívico-militar en Uruguay (1973-1985). Se indaga en el “Nuevo modelo de Educación Física” propuesto por la Comisión Nacional de Educación Física en 1986, analizando las intersecciones entre el cuerpo y la política moderna. A partir del análisis de las propuestas de recreación elaboradas entre 1985 y 1990 se observa que el tiempo libre se afirma como un elemento organizado a favor de la recuperación del trabajador. El dispositivo estatal que procuró administrar el tiempo libre de la población se orientó por un interés en la educación para el tiempo libre y por la promoción de hobbies como formas útiles de ocupar el tiempo de no trabajo.

Forensic excavations and burials in Uruguay, 2004–10

This article will describe the contemporary scientific techniques used to excavate and identify the dead bodies of disappeared detainees from the Uruguayan dictatorship. It will highlight the developments that have led to increased success by forensic anthropologists and archaeologists in uncovering human remains, as well as their effects, both social and political, on promoting the right to the truth and mechanisms of transitional justice.

Trauma and the Politics of Memory of the Uruguayan Dictatorship

Ethnographic research on the life experiences of former political prisoners and their families in Uruguay suggests the need for rethinking of the concept of trauma, which is often inadequate to convey the historical and social specificity of painful memories. The collective wound is constructed in public space, and intimate memories are closely linked to the framework in which they are embedded. Working on the victim’s self is not sufficient to overcome the trauma, distracting attention from the need for social recognition and justice. Making history and doing justice are unavoidable steps in the establishment of a different political regime. Las investigaciones etnográficas sobre las experiencias de vida de ex presos políticos y sus familias en Uruguay sugieren la necesidad de replantearse el concepto de trauma, el cual suele ser casi siempre inadecuado para expresar la especificidad histórica y social de las memorias dolorosas. La herida colectiva se construye en el espacio público y las memorias íntimas están estrechamente vinculadas con el marco en el que están inmersas. Trabajar sólo con el yo de la víctima no es suficiente para superar el trauma, y desvía la atención de la necesidad de reconocimiento social y justicia. Hacer historia y hacer justicia son pasos ineludibles en el establecimiento de un régimen político diferente.

Memory or postmemory? Documentaries directed by Uruguay’s second generation

This article brings together writings on film, memory and Latin American studies to analyse two documentaries directed by members of the second generation of the recent Uruguayan dictatorship (1973–1985): Secretos de Lucha ( Secrets of the Struggle, Maiana Bidegain, 2007) and DF Destino Final ( Final Destination, Mateo Gutiérrez, 2008). It also offers an account of the Uruguayan democratic transition and current discussions on the contribution of film to the remembrance of the past. Dictatorships took over other countries of the Southern Cone – Argentina (1976–1983) and Chile (1973–1990) – and several first-person documentaries, made by second-generation artists, have engaged with these events. There has been a tendency to explore these productions applying Marianne Hirsch’s concept of ‘postmemory’, originally coined in the context of the Holocaust. This article builds critically on this work to illustrate the strengths and limitations of this concept in the context of the dictatorships of the Southern Cone.

Dispositivos para la alineación de funcionarios docentes durante la dictadura cívico-militar en Uruguay (1973-1985)

The institutions of teacher training and curriculum design were strategic areas in which the armed forces could promote a particular political-pedagogical project during the civil-military dictatorship in Uruguay. In this article the curriculum is analysed from a Foucauldian perspective as a tool of political-pedagogical power. The curriculum was put into practice in order to discipline, to govern, and to qualify or disqualify those who in this article will be called education staff.

Re/constructing the past: How young people remember the Uruguayan dictatorship

Investigating how contested periods are remembered by younger generations allows us to better understand the contents that are passed on as well as the discursive processes through which intergenerational transmission occurs. This article explores the intersections of collective and personal memory. We investigate what Uruguayan teenagers know about the dictatorship (1973–1985) and what discourses come into play in shaping these views. The analysis of a group interview, part of an ethnographic project, identifies arguments, representations and evaluations of the period, while exploring intertextual links. The findings show that there are four main arguments used by the youth to explain the dictatorship: reaction to guerrillas, authoritarianism, regional ideological war, and intolerance. The social actors are evaluated in terms of social sanctions with negative evaluations of the guerrilla. Intertextual connections foreground the reception of hegemonic discourses that explain the period in terms of ‘two demons’. What youth know about the past is a situated and socially distributed web of meanings that help them make sense of the past and construct their socio-political identities.