Fear at the Edge

by Corradi, Juan E.; Fagen, Patricia Weiss; Antonio, Manuel

• ISBN13: 9780520077041
• ISBN10: 0520077040
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1992-12-01
• Publisher: Univ of California Pr

Summary

Despite the emergence of fragile democracies in Latin America in the 1980s, a legacy of fear and repression haunts this region. This provocative volume chronicles the effect of systematic state terror on the social fabric in Chile, Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay from the 1960s to the mid-1980s. The contributors, primarily Latin American scholars, examine the deep sense of insecurity and the complex social psychology of people who live in authoritarian regimes. There is Argentina, where the brutal repression of the 1976 coup almost completely smothered individuals who might once have opposed government practices, and Uruguay, where the government forced the population into neutrality and isolation and cast a silent pall on everyday life. Accounts of repression and resistance in Chile and Brazil are also vividly presented. The denial and rationalization by citizens in all four countries can only be understood in the context of the generalized fear and confusion created by the violent military campaigns, which included abductions, torture, and disappearances of alleged terrorists. The recent transition to civilian rule in these countries has spotlighted their powerful legacy of fear. These important essays reveal disturbing insights into how fear is generated, legitimized, accommodated, and resisted among people living under totalitarian rule.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Fear: A Cultural and Political Construct	p. 1
Fear and Authoritarianism
Fear in Military Regimes: An Overview	p. 13
Some People Die of Fear: Fear as a Political Problem	p. 26
Constructing Cultures of Fear
Repression and State Security	p. 39
Victims of Fear: The Social Psychology of Repression	p. 72
Makers and Guardians of Fear: Controlled Terror in Uruguay	p. 90
Gender, Death, and Resistance: Facing the Ethical Vacuum	p. 104
Resources, Strategies, and Constraints: Fighting Fear
Resistance to Fear in Chile: The Experience of the Vicaria de la Solidaridad	p. 121
Fear of the State, Fear of Society: On the Opposition Protests in Chile	p. 142
Testimonial Literature and the Armed Struggle in Brazil	p. 161
Cultures of Fear, Cultures of Resistance: The New Labor Movement in Brazil	p. 184
Youth, Politics, and Dictatorship in Uruguay	p. 212
Strategies of the Literary Imagination	p. 236
Beyond Fear: Forms of Justice and Compensation	p. 250
A Look Ahead
Toward Societies without Fear	p. 267
Index	p. 293
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