The Politics of Exclusion

Abstract

This chapter focuses on political exile, a mechanism of institutionalized exclusion of immense national and transnational impact across Latin America. It draws attention to the significance of forced territorial displacement as derived from the format of exclusionary citizenship and stresses the transnational implications of its recurrent presence and changing significance since early independent times and through the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Tracing the importance of exile in several respects—including its historical use, its role in the construction of transnational networks of solidarity and advocacy, and its contribution to the human rights discourse—the chapter suggests that the study of Latin American exile offers a unique perspective on processes of redefinition of collective identities and political visions. The study of exile also refocuses traditional readings of national histories on more regional, transnational, or even continental scales of analysis, as it is closely related to understanding the connection between state politics and struggles over citizenship that transcend the borders of individual nation-states.