Memory, culture and reparation in Chile: Joan Jara and the Victor Jara Foundation (1973-2003)

• Grant number: 25/08551-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: August 01, 2025
• End date: January 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - History of America
• Principal Investigator: Tania da Costa Garcia
• Grantee: Maria Luiza Franca Ramalho
• Supervisor: Karen Esther Donoso Fritz
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais (FCHS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Franca. Franca , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH), Chile
• Associated to the scholarship: 24/13219-5 - Memory, Culture and Reparation: Joan Jara and the historicity of the Víctor Jara Foundation (1973-2003), BP.DR

Abstract

This research project is part of the doctoral research entitled "Memory, Culture and Reparation: Joan Jara and the historicity of the Víctor Jara Foundation (1973-2003)". The focus is on the analysis of the memory work of Joan Turner Roberts Jara (1927-2023), widow of Víctor Lidio Jara Martínez (1932-1973), the communist multi-artist who was murdered by the military at the Estadio Chile on September 16, 1973, a few days after the Chilean coup d'état. When she left for exile in London, Joan began archiving documents related to the resistance, which led to the creation of the Víctor Jara Foundation (FVJ) and its archive in Santiago in the 1990s, in the context of Chile's re-democratization. The acts - such as festivals, book and album launches - and contacts of resistance during the exile (1973-1984) and the return (1985) inspired the creation of the organization which, among other reparation initiatives, took part in campaigns around the Estadio Chile, a space that was renamed the Estadio Víctor Jara in 2003.In this sense, by analyzing documents such as press clippings, letters and festival brochures from the Post-73 fund and the Fundación fund of the archive, we will investigate the historicity of the FVJ, marked by the development of a cultural policy of memory and reparation. We therefore propose a study of memory, culture (and its policies), with the aim of contributing to greater knowledge about the formation, dissemination and consolidation of an identity memory of opposition to the dictatorship, and thus highlighting the conflicts of the dictatorship and the transition to democracy in Chile.