Exile, Diaspora, and Return Changing Cultural Landscapes in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay

"During the late 20th and early 21st centuries, dictatorships in Latin America hastened the outward movement of intellectuals, academics, artists, and political and social activists to other countries. Following the coups that toppled democratically elected governments or curtailed parliamentary oversight, the incoming military or civilian-military administrations assumed that, by forcing those aligned with opposition movements out of the country, they would assure their control of politics and domestic public spheres. Yet, by creating or enlarging a diaspora of co-nationals, the authoritarian rulers merely extrapolated internal dissent and conflicts, emboldening opposition forces beyond their national borders. Displaced individuals soon had a presence in many host countries, gaining the support of solidarity circles and advocacy networks that condemned authoritarianism and worked along with exiles and internal resistance towards the restoration of electoral democracy. This is the first systematic analysis of the movement of individuals who have made a substantive mark on the development of post-authoritarian politics, society and culture in the Southern Cone of the Americas, specifically Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. It argues that political exile and expatriation have generated new awareness to the lack of convergence between national identities and the territorial boundaries of the nation-state, and also had profound effects on intellectual and political life in the countries of origin"--