Tapestries of Hope, Threads of Love: The Arpillera Movement in Chile - Softcover
Tapestries of Hope, Threads of Love tells the story of ordinary women living in terror and extreme poverty under General Pinochet's oppressive rule in Chile (1973-1989). These women defied the military dictatorship by embroidering their sorrow on scraps of cloth, using needles and thread as one of the boldest means of popular protest and resistance in Latin America. The arpilleras they made—patchwork tapestries with scenes of everyday life and memorials to their disappeared relatives—were smuggled out of Chile and brought to the world the story of their fruitless searches in jails, morgues, government offices, and the tribunals of law for their husbands, brothers, and sons.
Marjorie Agosín, herself a native of and exile from Chile, has spent more than thirty years interviewing the arpilleristas and following their work. She knows their stories intimately and knows, too, that none of them has ever found a disappeared relative alive. Even though the dictatorship ended in 1989 and democracy returned to Chile, no full account of the detained and disappeared has ever been offered. Still, many women maintain hope and continue to make arpilleras, both in memory and as art.
This new edition of the book, updated for students, includes a reaction to the death of General Pinochet, a chronology of Chile, several new testimonies from arpilleristas in their own words, and an introduction by Peter Kornbluh. It retains a section of full-color plates of arpilleras, an afterword by Peter Winn, and a foreword by Isabel Allende. Students and interested readers will find the arpilleras beautiful, moving, and ultimately hopeful, and the testimonies a powerful way to learn about the history of contemporary Latin America and the arpillera movement in Chile.
Marjorie Agosín, herself a native of and exile from Chile, has spent more than thirty years interviewing the arpilleristas and following their work. She knows their stories intimately and knows, too, that none of them has ever found a disappeared relative alive. Even though the dictatorship ended in 1989 and democracy returned to Chile, no full account of the detained and disappeared has ever been offered. Still, many women maintain hope and continue to make arpilleras, both in memory and as art.
This new edition of the book, updated for students, includes a reaction to the death of General Pinochet, a chronology of Chile, several new testimonies from arpilleristas in their own words, and an introduction by Peter Kornbluh. It retains a section of full-color plates of arpilleras, an afterword by Peter Winn, and a foreword by Isabel Allende. Students and interested readers will find the arpilleras beautiful, moving, and ultimately hopeful, and the testimonies a powerful way to learn about the history of contemporary Latin America and the arpillera movement in Chile.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author:
Marjorie Agosín is professor of Spanish and the history of women in Latin American culture at Wellesley College. She is the author of numerous short stories, books of poetry, and novels.
Review:
To have these arpilleras reproduced in combination with Marjorie Agosin's compassionate and historical analysis in a new and updated edition is a gift to all those who continue in the struggle for human rights, social justice, and peace. It is also a vital testimonial to women's history, resistance, and culture in Chile and in all of Latin America. (Bettina Aptheker)
Praise for the first edition: For twenty years after General Pinochet took power in Chile, a group of arpilleristas protested government brutality by sewing simple and exquisite tapestries in memory of their dead, their tortured, their disappearedloved ones. Almost alone these brave women kep a vigil against the harsh regime by creating an art that is special to their sad and beautiful country. What the arpilleristas speak of in their gentle, agonizing fabrics must never be forgotten?in Chile, and around the globe. This book is a guardian of memory, an important and lonely work of art that radiates social conscience and illuminates the struggle to survive... (Nichols, John)
Praise for the first edition: Breaking through the silences of the violent Pinochet dictatorship in Chile, the burlap tapestries or arpilleras and the mothers of the disappeared in Chile who sewed them show the power of art to counter despair and injustice. Marjorie Agosín's Tapestries of Hope lifts the heart while displaying a whole new dimension to politics.... (Kaplan, Temma)
Hope and love, yes, but a fierce and tenacious witness as well, and an insistence on spare truth in the face of brute power: truth armored in a heartrending beauty. With grace and precision, poet Marjorie Agosin sings this suite of Latin American variations on the epics of Penelope's steadfast devotion and Antigone's defiant resolve. (Lawrence Weschler)
This book should be put in the hands of every student in America, North and South, so all can learn how a culture of fear turned Chile into a well of suffering under Pinochet. Marjorie Agosin's Tapestries of Hope is a shiva made of words, a sacred act of mourning and memory, at once beautiful and heartbreaking. By collecting the stories of the women in Chile who wove their sadness into works of art using the torn clothes of the disappeared, Agosin lets us grieve for those who are lost. At the same time, we join the brave makers of the arpilleras in defying the brutal torturers who attempted to erase the names of their loved ones from history. I thank Marjorie Agosin with all my heart for the gift of this book. It is a gift for all humanity, as great books always are. (Behar, Ruth)
Praise for the first edition: Tapestries of Hope, Threads of Love tells the wonderful story of not forgetting-in cloth. The arpilleristas create their persistent, decades-long acts of remembering their children, companions, parents, and refusing political amnesia. (Grace Paley)
Praise for the first edition: Breaking through the silences of the violent Pinochet dictatorship in Chile, the burlap tapestries or arpilleras and the mothers of the disappeared in Chile who sewed them show the power of art to counter despair and injustice. Marjorie Agosín's Tapestries of Hope lifts the heart while displaying a whole new dimension to politics. (Kaplan, Temma)
Praise for the first edition: For twenty years after General Pinochet took power in Chile, a group of arpilleristas protested government brutality by sewing simple and exquisite tapestries in memory of their dead, their tortured, their disappeared loved ones. Almost alone these brave women kep a vigil against the harsh regime by creating an art that is special to their sad and beautiful country. What the arpilleristas speak of in their gentle, agonizing fabrics must never be forgotten—in Chile, and around the globe. This book is a guardian of memory, an important and lonely work of art that radiates social conscience and illuminates the struggle to survive. (Nichols, John)
By interweaving bleak storytelling with powerful, colorful depictions of cloth figures standing against a message of "No a la tortura" or chained together in protest against congressional policy, the complete and tragic story takes on physical and psychological dimensions. (Spring 2008 Asg Notions)
Agosin's poetic touch will engage undergraduate students in the humanities and social sciences as well as general readers. (Hispanic American Historical Review)
Praise for the first edition: For twenty years after General Pinochet took power in Chile, a group of arpilleristas protested government brutality by sewing simple and exquisite tapestries in memory of their dead, their tortured, their disappearedloved ones. Almost alone these brave women kep a vigil against the harsh regime by creating an art that is special to their sad and beautiful country. What the arpilleristas speak of in their gentle, agonizing fabrics must never be forgotten?in Chile, and around the globe. This book is a guardian of memory, an important and lonely work of art that radiates social conscience and illuminates the struggle to survive... (Nichols, John)
Praise for the first edition: Breaking through the silences of the violent Pinochet dictatorship in Chile, the burlap tapestries or arpilleras and the mothers of the disappeared in Chile who sewed them show the power of art to counter despair and injustice. Marjorie Agosín's Tapestries of Hope lifts the heart while displaying a whole new dimension to politics.... (Kaplan, Temma)
Hope and love, yes, but a fierce and tenacious witness as well, and an insistence on spare truth in the face of brute power: truth armored in a heartrending beauty. With grace and precision, poet Marjorie Agosin sings this suite of Latin American variations on the epics of Penelope's steadfast devotion and Antigone's defiant resolve. (Lawrence Weschler)
This book should be put in the hands of every student in America, North and South, so all can learn how a culture of fear turned Chile into a well of suffering under Pinochet. Marjorie Agosin's Tapestries of Hope is a shiva made of words, a sacred act of mourning and memory, at once beautiful and heartbreaking. By collecting the stories of the women in Chile who wove their sadness into works of art using the torn clothes of the disappeared, Agosin lets us grieve for those who are lost. At the same time, we join the brave makers of the arpilleras in defying the brutal torturers who attempted to erase the names of their loved ones from history. I thank Marjorie Agosin with all my heart for the gift of this book. It is a gift for all humanity, as great books always are. (Behar, Ruth)
Praise for the first edition: Tapestries of Hope, Threads of Love tells the wonderful story of not forgetting-in cloth. The arpilleristas create their persistent, decades-long acts of remembering their children, companions, parents, and refusing political amnesia. (Grace Paley)
Praise for the first edition: Breaking through the silences of the violent Pinochet dictatorship in Chile, the burlap tapestries or arpilleras and the mothers of the disappeared in Chile who sewed them show the power of art to counter despair and injustice. Marjorie Agosín's Tapestries of Hope lifts the heart while displaying a whole new dimension to politics. (Kaplan, Temma)
Praise for the first edition: For twenty years after General Pinochet took power in Chile, a group of arpilleristas protested government brutality by sewing simple and exquisite tapestries in memory of their dead, their tortured, their disappeared loved ones. Almost alone these brave women kep a vigil against the harsh regime by creating an art that is special to their sad and beautiful country. What the arpilleristas speak of in their gentle, agonizing fabrics must never be forgotten—in Chile, and around the globe. This book is a guardian of memory, an important and lonely work of art that radiates social conscience and illuminates the struggle to survive. (Nichols, John)
By interweaving bleak storytelling with powerful, colorful depictions of cloth figures standing against a message of "No a la tortura" or chained together in protest against congressional policy, the complete and tragic story takes on physical and psychological dimensions. (Spring 2008 Asg Notions)
Agosin's poetic touch will engage undergraduate students in the humanities and social sciences as well as general readers. (Hispanic American Historical Review)
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherRowman & Littlefield Publishers
- Publication date2007
- ISBN 10 0742540030
- ISBN 13 9780742540033
- BindingPaperback
- Edition number2
- Number of pages240
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Tapestries of Hope, Threads of Love: The Arpillera Movement in Chile
Published by
Rowman & Littlefield Publisher
(2007)
ISBN 10: 0742540030
ISBN 13: 9780742540033
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