Is history on our side? Memory, politics and the striving for social change

• In Event: Memory, conflict and indigeneity: postcolonial comparisons between Bolivia and Chile

Abstract

The paper asks how history and collective memories are articulated in contemporary Bolivian and Chilean politics. It does so through an exploration of how the present is understood through the lens of the past while aiming at generating (radical) new societal forms in Bolivia and Chile. It is argued that memories, images and tales about the past appears as a force that can be drawn upon in order to force social change and make sense of this transformation. The “past” is thus a powerful political tool, yet the force of the “past” can also turn against those who hope to benefit from it. These processes are explored through an analysis of a) president Morales’ eclectic use of symbols of indigenous civilizations and former forms of struggles, b) how the “past” has sought to be overcome in post-dictatorial Chile, and c) how understandings of nationhood, indigeneity and colonialism are articulated in specific social relations in both countries. When observed from the vantage point of these processes, the “past” is not an easily manipulated object but rather an agent in its own right, and one might ask what it takes to benefit from it in such a way that its force can be used to move towards new social realities instead of being trapped in it. This concern adds a new temporal dimension to question as to whether history is on our side?

Author

• Helene Risor, Universidad Católica de Chile