La historiografía sobre la revolución y la contrarrevolución chilena a 50 años del golpe de Estado. Balance general y deudas pendientes

Abstract

The hegemonic crisis in today’s Chile, 50 years after its foundational moment in the 1973 coup d’état, demands complex ways of understanding the past beyond the narrow framework of the struggles for memory. Historiographic production has a major role to play in this task, even though there is still a long way to go. In this essay, I present a critical review of the historiography of the revolution-counterrevolution period in Chile, that was inaugurated by the victory of the Popular Unity in the 1970 presidential elections, fractured by the coup and the establishment of the military dictatorship in 1973, and closed with the democratic restoration of 1990. To this end, I first analyze the historiographical production developed in Chile, mainly during the first decades of the 21st century, noting its achievements and silences; then, I review some historical debates in the context of the 50th anniversary of the coup in 2023; and, finally, I explore some new questions and research topics present in the concerns of new generations of researchers. With all this, this essay seeks to motivate the multiplication of more complex and diverse historical studies on the recent Chilean past.

Keywords

• Historiography
• Chile
• Popular Unity
• Military Dictatorship
• Coup d’État
• Transition