Revista de Historia Social y de las Mentalidades
Is a biannual peer-reviewed publication from the Department of History of Universidad de Santiago de Chile. The journal is open to all academic contributions that address historical political, economic, social, and cultural phenomena using different analysis tools from the humanities and social sciences. RHSM provides open online access to its full contents and assumes the costs of processing the contributions it propagates.
Truth and Justice in the polarized political scene: recent debates on the legitimacy of trials for crimes against humanity (Argentina, 2015)
This article examines the debate on the articulation between truth and justice and the legitimacy of trials for crimes against humanity in Argentina around 2015, in a context of increasing political polarization. In this setting, the singularity of the interventions was often reduced to the notions of “impunity” and “revenge.” However, through a qualitative analysis of public documents, four positions are identified: the rejection of retribution, the proposal to reduce sentences in exchange for information, the denunciation of the pursuit of impunity, and the defence of trials as a means of achieving truth. Thus, the articulation between truth and justice remains an open question that cannot be closed.
Copyright (c) 2026 Revista de Historia Social y de las Mentalidades https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
El presente número de Revista de Historia Social y las Mentalidades reúne una serie de diversos artículos y reseñas que han llegado a nuestra publicación. Estos dan cuenta del amplio espectro de temas historiográficos que promueve y difunde la Revista, desde aquellos más característicos de una historia social y económica hasta otros más vinculados a los estudios sobre la política y las emociones. Los textos que componen este número, además, tienen una amplia cobertura temporal, incorporando análisis sobre prácticamente todo el siglo XX, aunque centrados más bien en Chile.
Copyright (c) 2025 Revista de Historia Social y de las Mentalidades https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Inverted Mirrors: The Spanish Weekly Cambio 16 and the Argentine Dictatorship (1976-1978)
<div id="tw-container" class="nev7se" data-cp="1" data-nnttsvi="1" data-sletp="false" data-sm="1" data-ssbp="true" data-sugg-time="500" data-sugg-url="https://clients1.google.com/complete/search" data-uilc="es-419" data-vil=",af,af-ZA,am,am-ET,ar-EG,ar-AE,ar-KW,ar-QA,ar,ar-IL,ar-JO,ar-LB,ar-PS,az,az-AZ,bg,bg-BG,bn,bn-BD,bn-IN,ca,ca-es,cs,cs-CZ,de,de-DE,de-CH,de-AT,de-LI,en,en-US,en-CA,en-AU,en-NZ,en-GB,en-IN,en-KE,en-TZ,en-NG,en-GH,en-PH,en-ZA,es,es-ES,es-AR,es-UY,es-419,es-BO,es-CL,es-CR,es-CO,es-DO,es-EC,es-GT,es-HN,es-NI,es-PA,es-PE,es-PR,es-PY,es-SV,es-VE,es-MX,es-US,eu,eu-ES,fi,fi-FI,fr,fr-FR,fr-CH,fr-BE,gl,gl-ES,gu,gu-IN,he,he-IL,iw,iw-IL,hu,hu-HU,hy,hy-AM,id,id-ID,is,is-IS,it,it-IT,it-CH,ja,ja-JP,jv,jv-ID,ka,ka-GE,km,km-KH,kn,kn-IN,ko,ko-KR,la,lo,lo-LA,lv,lv-LV,ml,ml-IN,mr,mr-IN,ms,ms-MY,nl,nl-NL,nb,nb-NO,ne,ne-NP,pl,pl-PL,pt,pt-BR,pt-PT,ro,ro-RO,ru,ru-RU,si-LK,sk,sk-SK,sr,sr-RS,su,su-ID,sv,sv-SE,sw,sw-TZ,sw-KE,ta,ta-IN,ta-SG,ta-LK,ta-MY,te,te-IN,tr,tr-TR,ur,ur-PK,ur-IN,yue,yue-HK,yue-Hant-HK,zh-HK,zh,zh-CN,zh-cmn,zh-cmn-CN,zh-Hans,zh-Hans-CN,zh-cmn-Hans,zh-cmn-Hans-CN,cmn-CN,cmn-Hans,cmn-Hans-CN,zh-TW,zh-Hant-TW,cmn-TW,cmn-Hant-TW,zh-cmn-TW,zh-cmn-Hant-TW,zu,zu-ZA,hi,hi-IN,tl,tl-PH,pa,pa-IN"> <pre id="tw-target-text" class="tw-data-text tw-text-large tw-ta" dir="ltr" data-placeholder="Traducción" data-ved="2ahUKEwiVo-DfuamPAxVil5UCHdIbGzkQ3ewLegQICRAV" aria-label="Texto traducido: This article examines the journalistic coverage that the Spanish weekly Cambio 16 produced on the repressive regime established by the military dictatorship following the coup d'état in Argentina in March 1976. In the context of Spain's democratic transition, this commercially successful political publication established itself as one of the most influential and widely circulated print media outlets, standing out for its constant focus on dictatorships in the Southern Cone. Freed from censorship in Argentina and with close ties to exiled Argentine journalists, the magazine developed a rigorous and detailed coverage that denounced systematic state violence, forced disappearances, and the censorship implemented by the Argentine military regime. Its coverage included photo reports, in-depth political analysis, and denunciations of the military government's propaganda campaigns abroad, as well as extensive coverage of the critical situation of the press and persecuted journalists. Current events in Argentina served as a mirror, allowing Cambio 16 to reflect on authoritarianism and civil liberties during the transition in Spain."> This article analyzes the journalistic coverage of the repressive regime established by the Argentine military dictatorship following the March 1976 coup d'état in the Spanish weekly Cambio 16. Within the context of Spain's democratic transition, this widely circulated and influential political magazine became one of the most important print media outlets of the period, distinguished by its sustained attention to the dictatorships of the Southern Cone. Operating outside the information restrictions in place in Argentina and in conjunction with networks of exiled journalists, Cambio 16 developed a systematic and rigorous approach that denounced state violence, forced disappearances, forms of censorship and information control, as well as the propaganda campaigns waged by the regime abroad. Its coverage combined political analysis, documentation, testimonies, and photojournalism, giving central importance to the critical situation of the press and the persecution of journalists. At the same time, the magazine used the Argentine case as a framework for comparative reflection: the repression and authoritarianism observed in the Southern Cone served as a mirror from which to contribute to addressing some of the central themes of the Spanish transition to democracy.
Looking for an agreement: the mediating action of the Institute of Social Reforms (1903-1924)
Throughout its career, the Institute of Social Reforms carried out significant work as an intermediary in the conflicts between employers and workers. Through the study of the internal documentation of the organization, among other sources, this paper examines how the institution implemented its intervention, the consequences it had, as well as the limitations it encountered in doing so. In this way, it will contribute to a better understanding of how the Instituto analyzed struggles related to the world of work, how it created spaces for dialogue, and the mediation strategies it used to address conflicts that threatened the consolidation of social reform
Thinking with Witches and Cannibals: The Anthropofagous Sabbat in Europe and America during the Apogee of Witchcraft Trials
During the 15th century, radical demonology made cannibalism one of the main features of the Renaissance witch. By the early 16th century, the association between cannibalism, sabbats, and demonolatry was fully established in the European imagination. But at that time, a new phenomenon was beginning in the Americas: the creation of an alternative cannibal myth centered on Indigenous peoples, particularly those settled in the Caribbean islands and on the southeastern coast of Brazil. The mythology surrounding the Brazilian cannibal is particularly relevant because its greatest development occurred precisely during the middle decades of the 16th century, when the legal repression of witchcraft slowed significantly in Europe. However, from the 1570s and 1580s onward, witch-hunts returned with unprecedented vigor in the Old World, thus opening the door to the convergence of the myths of the cannibalistic witch and the Amerindian cannibal. This phenomenon of exchange and hybridization is the historical problem addressed in this article, based on a documentary corpus — chronicles, demonologies and iconography — that will allow us to reconstruct the intense process of cultural circularity that took place at that time around the disturbing practice of anthropophagy.
“From private conversations to political projects” Political friendship among elite catholic women. First half of the 20th century
During the first decades of the twentieth century, elite Catholic women in Chile developed important social and educational organizations that transformed the landscape of female Catholic activism. Although these institutions have been studied from administrative and sociocultural perspectives, the conceptualization and analysis of political friendship as a driver of social change remain largely unexplored. This article proposes to define female political friendship as the convergence of complicities among women who, by sharing a common space of class, gender, and historical experience, mobilize their individual ideas and feelings toward collective work with public impact. Through the analysis of personal documents, Catholic press, and institutional records of the Liga de Damas (1912) and the Hogar Catequístico (1936), we study the networks of sociability and affective bonds between their founders, Amalia Errázuriz de Subercaseaux and Elisa Valdés Ossa. This research contributes to theorizing political friendship as a category of historical analysis, revealing its fundamental role in shaping Chilean female Catholic activism and opening new perspectives for understanding forms of agency in the history of Catholic women.
Militant and political experiences in the formation of the Socialist Party of Chile in the greater Concepción area, 1931-1933
This article analyzes the formation of the Socialist Party of Chile in Concepción between 1931 and 1933, considering the trajectories, actors, and ideologies that converged at its origin. It argues that, within the framework of local political dynamics, the consolidation of socialism in the area was closely linked to the influence of already established parties, the alliances formed with them, and the actions of leaders who facilitated its organization at specific junctures. In this sense, the experience of the Socialist Republic and the 1932 electoral cycle acted as fundamental articulating axes, offering spaces for organizational and discursive experimentation that decisively influenced the subsequent structuring of regional socialism. Through the study of party, regional, and national press, the main political networks of these groups, their spheres of influence, their links with local actors, and the role of the Socialist Republic in this process are examined.
Del Pozo Artigas, José Historia de Chile. La construcción de una sociedad desigual. Lom Ediciones, 2023, pp. 292.
“The Friend Who Went to Bolivia”: Relations and Contacts Between Argentine and Bolivian Communism During the 1952 Revolution
The work analyzes the reception of the Bolivian Revolution of 1952 in Argentine communism, as well as the contacts with its Bolivian comrades, through the documents (which had a certain confidential character and were not intended for publication) that emissaries and envoys elaborated for the party organization. The aim is to reconstruct a history of discussions and connections that allows us to observe how the position and characterization of both was processed, while also highlighting the interventions to the Argentine Communist Party (PCA) had in Bolivia. The internationalist character and the regional and transnational structure of communism makes that the perspective proposed here also contributes to recover part of the history of Bolivian communists during a little explored period. It is argued that the views that were put into play were not the same on both sides of the border, and that the PCA helped to structure, not without frictions and problems, the Communist Party of Bolivia (PCB).
“Why Luder?” The peronist magazine Línea and the argentine presidential campaign of 1983
Este artículo presenta hallazgos provenientes de una investigación en curso sobre la prensa política argentina durante la denominada “transición” hacia la democracia, entre 1982 y 1983. En particular, indaga el tratamiento editorial y la cobertura periodística ofrecidos por la revista peronista Línea ante la elección presidencial del 30 de octubre de 1983 en Argentina, que significaría el retorno democrático tras la experiencia de la dictadura militar en el poder desde marzo de 1976. El periodo estudiado se extiende desde mediados de 1982, luego del anuncio del gobierno militar sobre las normas de funcionamiento de los partidos políticos y de un cronograma electoral, hasta los días posteriores al resultado de las elecciones. Se sigue un enfoque cualitativo, basado en el análisis discursivo. Entre las conclusiones, se destaca que Línea asumió el rol intelectual de replantear la identidad peronista y estimular la unidad partidaria a través del antagonismo con la dictadura, posición que fue virando una vez lanzada la competencia electoral en 1983, cuando la diferenciación se trasladó hacia la candidatura del partido radical, a la que extendió las propiedades negativas atribuidas al gobierno militar. En relación con la interna peronista por la elección de sus candidaturas, desde una postura de autonomía intelectual en un principio apostó a la reestructuración desde las bases mediante el voto directo de sus autoridades y candidatos, manteniéndose relativamente equidistante en el conflictivo proceso de la determinación de la fórmula presidencial; pero, una vez resuelta, se volcó decididamente a acompañarla con tono proselitista. Por último, ante la derrota peronista en la elección a presidente se analizan los términos de la crítica del medio a la estrategia partidaria y a su propio rol en tal sentido.
Where the Street Was Trench and Court: Confluence and Feedback Between the Working Class and the Chilean Left, 1950–1960
This article’s main hypothesis is that Chile’s democratization process and the construction of the Chilean road to socialism were forged in the streets, through the articulation of social and political struggles that linked labor conflict with party action. The organized and politicized working class was a key actor in this process, strengthening the left’s project beyond its internal differences. Based on this premise, the article analyzes three forms of popular mobilization—national strikes, marches for civil liberties, and protests against price hikes and for fair wage adjustments—understood as expressions of an expanding class-based political culture during the 1950s and 1960s. The research draws on sources from the National Administrative Archive, union and party documents, parliamentary debates, and the press of the period.
La Ciruela: Culture and Resistance in the Chilean Military Dictatorship
This article analyzes the material published in the Chilean magazine La Ciruela, seeking to identify the meanings of left-wing student resistance in Chile under dictator Augusto Pinochet, as well as to better understand the notion of "cultural apagón". La Ciruela (The Plum) was produced and published by the Agrupación Cultural Universitaria (ACU), a student organization at the University of Chile, which managed to maintain student organization through cultural activities and facilitated the gradual reorganization of left-wing activism on campus. The magazine circulated from 1979 to 1982, always marked by irreverence, humor, and parody, constantly challenging the dictatorship with its cartoons and articles denouncing censorship, repression, and persecution of students.
Zemon Davis, Natalie. Ficción en los archivos. Prometeo, 2024, pp. 225.
Presentación dossier: “Tradiciones inventadas y estereotipos culturales en América Latina, siglos XIX y XX”.
Tradition and Identity in the Revista de Historia Social y de las Mentalidades
Thirty years after its inception, the “Revista de Historia Social y de las Mentalidades” devotes this issue to the dossier “Invented Traditions and Cultural Stereotypes in Latin America, 19th and 20th Centuries,” which explores the construction of traditions through workers’ music, cultural exile, diplomacy, gastronomy, and the press, revealing the political, economic, and transdisciplinary dimensions of cultural history. The volume is rounded out by articles on photography, the press, and nationalist imaginaries in immigrant communities. All contributions engage in dialogue with one another and with RHSM’s critical and reflective vocation
Illapu in exile and its (pop) Andean paths
This article studies part of Illapu's history in exile, inquiring into the stylistic transformation and production of discourses informed by the transnational experience. In particular, I interrogate the strategies Illapu takes to update the place of "the Andean" in their music. On the one hand, it stresses the exploration of pop and Afro-Latin sonorities is addressed, through the incorporation of the electric bass and new rhythms. On the other hand, the production of self-promotional discourses in international tours is examined, observing the relativization of the political component and a reinvigoration of the Andean in the eyes of diverse audiences, where the reinvention of the local becomes crucial.
Álvarez Vallejos, Rolando. Años decisivos. Las Juventudes Comunistas de Chile en dictadura (1980-1991) Tomo II. América en movimiento, 2024, pp. 317.
The wobblies of the Chilean section facing the process of institutionalization of the tenant movement (1924-1926)
The present article deals with the link between the Chilean section of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and the tenants' movement in the mid 1920's. The research aims to discuss historical interpretations that associate anarchism with rigidity and irrationality, which would have led to the failure of the anarchist movement. The research aims to discuss the historical interpretations that associate anarchism with rigidity and irrationality, an issue that would have led the anarchist movement to failure. However, it is argued that the anarchist movement was not homogeneous, and in that heterogeneity burst the wobblies, who became active actors in the process of mobilization and social legislation around popular housing. The text underlines the dispute around the process of institutionalization of the tenant movement that the Chilean section of the IWW tried to promote, defending the protagonism of the grassroots and direct action against the coercion and consensus devices imposed by the State. This perspective is nourished by political history, in permanent dialogue with social history, and seeks to break with the prejudices and commonplaces that certain historiography of anarchism has instituted.
Tensions within the left in a local industrial milieu: Puente Alto 1936-1953
This paper analyzed the relationship between socialists and communists during the Popular Front and radical governments in Puente Alto. In this territory, the municipality was administered by socialist militants until 1953, while these also deployed their presence in the Paper Union of the Paper and Cardboard Manufacturing Company, where they coincided with communist militants. Frictions and conflicts were identified in both spaces, providing new background on their relationship at the national level. Methodologically, the analysis was focused on the conflictive knots reflected in the dissemination organs of both groups. The main conflicts developed in three dimensions: communal administration, union hegemony and repercussions of national politics. Although the enmities were fed by the international and national context, local disputes, slander and the search for representation of the popular sectors of the commune also played a key role.
Resenha 'Novas fronteiras das históricas LGBTI+ no Brasil'
PHOTOGRAPHY IN HISTORICAL EXPLANATION: SOCIAL PRACTICES, DISCURSIVE SPACES AND ARCHIVE
This article offers a methodological reflection on the use of photography in the construction of historical knowledge. It underscores the necessity of conducting a thorough documentary critique to evaluate the heuristic potential of photography, much like other types of sources or remnants in historiographical work. Using a photographic portrait preserved in a Chilean archive, the analysis delves into three essential dimensions—social practices, discursive spaces, and archives—that must be considered to effectively integrate this type of document into historical research.
Workers, peasants and citizens: Factors of female political adhesion in Chile (1965-1973)
This study analyzes how social and structural factors influenced women's political adherence to the left, center, and right between 1965 and 1973. Through electoral data, surveys and censuses, the relationship between labor force participation, educational levels, religion and marital status with women's political preferences was examined. The results showed that the sectors with more female workers in the centre had better voting. The left achieved better votes in provinces with less female illiteracy. The Catholic religion showed an inclination to the right. Married women tended to identify with the left, possibly because of more socially traditional values in the lower classes than among affluent women. This study enriches the understanding of female political behavior in Chile before 1973.
«Europe cannot be civilized»: colonialism and de-hispanification in Francisco Bilbao
The article examines Francisco Bilbao’s essay "El Evangelio Americano" (1864) with respect to Bilbao’s criticism of European colonialist actions, as well as his displacement of the Old World as a unique paradigm of civilization and modernity. Within this framework, the author contends that Bilbao both portrays and rejects colonialism in the binary historical-cultural sense, since Bilbao alludes to the Hispanic past and to the South American present in the throes of European colonial interventions. Faced with this, Bilbao argues that in America an emancipation is developing that is not only political, but also cultural and intellectual, which is capable of freeing from oppression the disinherited, such as Native Americans, whom in his essay Bilbao transforms into agents of rebellion against history.
Copyright (c) 2024 Revista de Historia Social y de las Mentalidades https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Lavrin, Asunción. María Casilda del Pozo y Calderón. Autobiografía de una devota secular en Nueva España. UNAM San Antonio, 2023, 423 pp.
SPECIALIZED SUPPLEMENTS IN THE FIRST THIRD OF THE 20TH CENTURY: A CASE STUDY
The modernization of newspaper companies during the first third of the 20th century pushed them to launch new initiatives, such as the creation of specialized supplements, in order to improve their income, broaden their readership and offer advertisers more segmented advertising space. This paper analyzes the five specialized supplements published by the newspaper Las Noticias with the aim of providing unpublished data on the appearance and evolution of these publications. For the analysis of the primary sources, more than 500 copies of the newspaper and a hundred supplements were consulted in the Historical Archive of the City of Barcelona, as well as secondary sources. The analysis of these supplements confirms their usefulness to reach new audiences and to maintain or increase subscriptions to the newspaper.
A Sacrifice Zone in the Global Food Chain: The Case of Pig and Olive Production in San Pedro de Melipilla, Chile (1990-2023)
The present article analyzes the historical configuration of San Pedro de Melipilla as a sacrifice zone in the global food chain during the period 1990-2023. To achieve this, the processes of land and water appropriation and productive shifts were reconstructed. These changes, along with propelling the commune to lead the country's pig and olive production and enabling successful international market integration for companies in these sectors, have resulted in environmental deterioration of the territory and a progressive depeasantization. The research draws on archival materials from agrarian institutions, the Registrar of Real Estate, and the General Directorate of Water, complemented by press análisis and literature.
Pancho Villa, el Centauro del Norte: a historical analysis of the construction of masculinities in the Mexican Revolution.
This article analyzes the construction of the Mexican revolutionary epic around the figure of Pancho Villa, for which it proposes, first, that the traits of masculinity were part of an identity process that rested on various cultural devices; and second, that there were different interpretations and representations of Villa of this character conforming, which nurtured the diverse masculinities that inhabited the same character. The analysis of the semantic universe that made up a "revolutionary courage" will allow us to approach the understanding of this emotion from the review of Mexican and American sources, films, corridos and the press. This research and comparison will show the different forms that the figure of Villa took that served the construction of an archetypal profile of masculinity.
Personal nationalism in Slavic immigrant communities in Argentina during the Cold War (1955-1960)
<a href="https://www.revistas.usach.cl/ojs/index.php/historiasocial/The objective of this work is to analyse the effects on Argentine soil of the Soviet Repatriation Campaign carried out between 1955-1960. Particularly, the focus is on the Slavic immigrant communities in Argentina and on the subjective consequences in this population of Soviet propaganda in favour of repatriation. In this sense, we analyse biographical accounts of individuals who were convinced to leave Argentine citizenship to repatriate to the USSR but who later repented and tried to appeal to the Argentine state to repatriate them. The originality of this research lies in the intimate perspective, focussed on the way of feeling and appropriating the Nation. The analysis shows that, even when they considered themselves Argentines, these individuals bowed, at first, to the process of Soviet nationalisation "from above" and then reconstructed the narrative that linked them to the Argentine nation. The case of returnees in Argentina thus opens the possibility of studying the way in which personal nationalism acts. The conclusions of this analysis show that the Repatriation Campaign managed to highlight the elements that associated these individuals with the Argentine Nation.">The objective of this work is to analyse the effects on Argentine soil of the Soviet Repatriation Campaign carried out between 1955-1960. Particularly, the focus is on the Slavic immigrant communities in Argentina and on the subjective consequences in this population of Soviet propaganda in favour of repatriation. In this sense, we analyse biographical accounts of individuals who were convinced to leave Argentine citizenship to repatriate to the USSR but who later repented and tried to appeal to the Argentine state to repatriate them. The originality of this research lies in the intimate perspective, focussed on the way of feeling and appropriating the Nation. The analysis shows that, even when they considered themselves Argentines, these individuals bowed, at first, to the process of Soviet nationalisation "from above" and then reconstructed the narrative that linked them to the Argentine nation. The case of returnees in Argentina thus opens the possibility of studying the way in which personal nationalism acts. The conclusions of this analysis show that the Repatriation Campaign managed to highlight the elements that associated these individuals with the Argentine Nation.
Garcés, Mario y Nicholls, Nancy. Para una Historia de los Derechos Humanos en Chile. Historia institucional de la Fundación de Ayuda Social de las Iglesias Cristianas (FASIC) 1975-1991. LOM Ediciones, 2024.
El texto presenta las ideas principales de un estudio monográficos realizado por dos historiadores, centrado en una orgánicas de derechos humanos que emergió en dictadura: la Fundación de Ayuda Social de las Iglesias Cristianas (1975-1991). En esa dirección, la reseña recoge las principales características y propuestas que articulan los cinco capítulos que estructuran el libro, que se vuelve a reeditar a propósito de la conmemoración de los 49 años de trabajo de la institución.
The Hooded Man of the National Stadium: Exploring Collaboration in the Dictatorship Through the Case of Juan Muñoz Alarcón
This paper examines the collaboration of former left-wing militants with the Chilean military dictatorship, focusing on the case of Juan Muñoz Alarcón, a former socialist who became involved in repression, covering his face to identify and denounce individuals inside the National Stadium, which had been turned into a detention center during that period. After years of participation in state security agencies, Muñoz Alarcón attempted to distance himself, providing a detailed testimony to the Vicaría de la Solidaridad before his murder. The study seeks to unravel the dynamics of collaboration, characterize its effects, and analyze Muñoz Alarcón’s trajectory. The concept of the “grey zone,” proposed by Primo Levi, is used as an explanatory tool to understand the construction of the collaborator.