Camila A. Gavin

The US-backed Chilean military coup that deposed President Salvador Allende and initiated the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-90) sparked large-scale opposition as Chileans faced torture, disappearance, and exile. While the literature on the anti-Pinochet movement focuses on Chilean exiles, this dissertation uses archives, oral histories, and cultural analysis to explore how Chicanas participated in the movement. It argues that through the circulation of cultural texts on Chile, contact with Chilean exiles, and travel to Chile, Chicanas internationalized the Chicana/o movement and shaped women of color politics by framing imperialism as a feminist issue. More broadly, this dissertation contributes to understandings of international events and how they shape US culture and politics, focusing on women’s roles in the creation of these transnational connections.