Memory's Turn

Reckoning with Dictatorship in Brazil

Rebecca J. Atencio

• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9780299297237
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

After twenty-one years of military dictatorship, Brazil returned to democratic rule in 1985. Yet over the following two decades, the country largely ignored human rights crimes committed by state security agents, crimes that included the torture, murder, and disappearance of those who opposed the authoritarian regime.
In clear and engaging prose, Rebecca J. Atencio tells the story of the slow turn to memory in Brazil, a turn that has taken place in both politics and in cultural production. She shows how testimonial literature, telenovelas, literary novels, theatrical plays, and memorials have interacted with policies adopted by the Brazilian state, often in unexpected ways. Under the right circumstances, official and cultural forms of reckoning combine in Brazil to produce what Atencio calls cycles of cultural memory. Novel meanings of the past are forged, and new cultural works are inspired, thus creating the possibility for further turns in the cycle.
The first book to analyze Brazil's reckoning with dictatorship through both institutional and cultural means, Memory's Turn is a rich, informative exploration of the interplay between these different modes of memory reconstruction.Winner, Alfred B. Thomas Award, Southeastern Council of Latin American StudiesHonorable Mention, Roberto Reis Book Prize, Brazilian Studies Association

Table of contents

• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• List of Abbreviations
• Introduction: The Turn to Memory in Brazilian Culture and Politics
• 1. Testimonies and the Amnesty Law
• 2. A Prime-Time Miniseries and Impeachment
• 3. Literary and Official Truth-Telling
• 4. From Torture Center to Stage and Site of Memory
• Conclusion: Memory's Turns and Returns
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index