Dr Claudia Stern

Email: claudiastern8@gmail.com

Biography

Claudia's transdisciplinary research on modern Latin American history examines the formation of Chilean middle-class identities during the 20th century from anthropological, cultural, and sociological perspectives. She earned her PhD in History (2016) and my MA in Cultural Studies (2008) from Tel Aviv University. During her postdoctoral studies at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Research (IPAZ), Granada University (2016), she focused on ethnic research on immigrants and the Chilean middle classes. As a Minerva Postdoctoral Fellow (2016-2018) at the Institute for Latin American Studies, Freie Universität Berlin, she began new research on middle-class identities and cultural trauma. In 2019, as a Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH) and the Centre for the Study of Modern and Contemporary History (CSMCH), University of Edinburgh, she adopted an urban approach in my current research project on trauma.

As a Research Associate at the Latin American Centre for the History of Housing (CEIHVAL), she is a permanent lecturer on the Housing and Urban Studies in Latin America MA Program at the Architecture, Design and Urban Studies Faculty, Universidad de Buenos Aires, FADU-UBA, where every spring semester she teaches 24 academic hours during an intense three-week seminar on “Middle-Class Lives in Twentieth-Century Latin America”.

Research Interests

Claudia's current research focuses on the metamorphosis of the Chilean middle classes and their gender identities between 1970 and 1990, examined from a transnational perspective through the lens of cultural trauma. So far, she has focused on middle-class cultural trauma and masculinities through use of space, and on the left-wing middle-class masculine youth. Given the nature of her research, the transnational aspects of this project, and her interest in source combination, she have blended archival work with visual and material culture, press, and oral testimonies as complementary sources. Her research is the first to consider cultural trauma as a category for social class examination, proposing the middle classes as a new perspective within the study of memory.

 Centre Roles

Claudia was a CSMCH-IASH Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow for the year 2018-19 and was highly involved in the Centre's activities.  You can read about her work with the Centre in the following blog posts:

'Workshop and film screening on transnational solidarities' (2019)

'Claudia Stern on class and urban space in Chile, c.1970-c.1990' (2019)

The CSMCH-IASH postdoctoral fellowship was a highly enriching experience. The multicultural environment at IASH and at the University of Edinburgh in general was stimulating, as were the variety of research topics at both CSMCH and IASH. From a transatlantic perspective, the experience was inspiring in terms of making comparisons and establishing connections through research.

Claudia Stern

Publications

Forthcoming

(In press) “‘Professionals, merchants and industrialists unite!’ Middle-class masculinities, subjectivities and nationhood, Chile 1932-1952”. Men and Masculinities

(For publication in 2021) “‘Young people committed to the motherland’: Middle-class masculinity, radicalization, and the fragmentation of the ‘Integral Chileans’ in the 1970s” in The Middle Classes in Latin America: Subjectivities, Practices, and Genealogies. Mario Barbosa-Cruz, Ricardo López-Pedreros, Claudia Stern, Eds., Routledge Studies in the History of the Americas book series

(Under contract with Routledge) The Middle Classes in Latin America: Subjectivities, Practices, and Genealogies. Mario Barbosa-Cruz, Ricardo López-Pedreros, Claudia Stern Eds., Routledge Studies in the History of the Americas book series (Expected 2021)

Published

Book

(2021) Entre el cielo y el suelo: las identidades elásticas de las clases medias (Santiago de Chile, 1932-1962), Santiago: RiL editores. ISBN 978-956-01-0877-7

Articles & Book Chapters

(2020) “Una ciudadela para clases medias chilenas: subjetividades de vivienda y vida cotidiana. Villa Olímpica, Ñuñoa en la década del 60”. Anuario Centro de Estudios Económicos de la Empresa y el Desarrollo Nº13 junio-noviembre, Año 12, FCE-UBA. ISSN 2545-8299. pp. 111-143 [Indexed journal: ERIH Plus, DOAJ, Latindex, and others]

(2020) “Political Immigrants: The ‘Chileanization’ of Arabs and Jews and Their Class Subjectivities, 1930-1970” in Raanan Rein, Ed., Migrants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Latin America, Brill, Leiden and Boston. ISBN 978-90-04-43223-9. pp. 108-130

(2019) “Cuando Chile dejó de ser una ‘copia feliz del Edén’: redefiniendo clases medias en trauma en la década del 70”. Journal of Iberian and Latin American Research JILAR 25:2. ISSN 21519668. pp. 157-176 [Indexed journal: SCOPUS, Humanities International Complete, Gale, and others]

(2018) “Otredades al poder: ‘chilenización’ de árabes y judíos políticos y sus subjetividades de clase (1930-1970)”. Revista Tiempo Histórico Año 9 Nº17 julio-diciembre 2018. ISSN 0718-7432. pp. 109-125 [Indexed journal: ERIH Plus, DOAJ, SCIELO Chile, and others]

(2017) “La sobredimensión de la educación estatal en Chile. El Liceo experimental Manuel de Salas y el ‘chileno integral’ (1932-1962)”. Revista Historia 396, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso Nº1 Vol. 7 junio 2017. ISSN 0719-0719. pp. 263-299 [Indexed journal: SCOPUS, EBSCOhost, Latindex, and others]

(2017) “Otherness in Convergence: Arabs, Jews, and the Formation of the Chilean Middle Classes, 1930-1960” in Raanan Rein, Stefan Rinke, and Nadia Zysman, Eds., The New Ethnic Studies: Jewish Latin Americans in a Comparative Perspective, Brill, Leiden and Boston. ISBN 978-90-04-34229-3. pp. 99-127

(2016) “La paz neutra y el ‘chileno abnegado’. Inmigrantes y sectores medios en Chile 1930-1960”. Revista de Paz y Conflictos Vol 9 (2). ISSN 1988-7221. pp. 125-150 [Indexed journal: WEB OF SCIENCE, ERIH Plus, ECYT, EBSCOhost, and others]

(2015) “Transformaciones en los modos de vida santiaguinos: Ñuñoa y sectores medios ¿Un florecimiento conjunto? (1932-1962)”. Revista Hache, Arquitectura y Ciudad, Año 2, Número 2. Facultad de Arquitectura, Diseño y Urbanismo, Universidad de Buenos Aires, FADU-UBA. Buenos Aires. 2015. ISSN 2362-2784. pp. 24-41 [Indexed journal: ARLA, LATINDEX]

(2012) “Inmigración a Israel en la actualidad: la Aliyá y su significación contemporánea”. Cuadernos Judaicos Nº29 diciembre. Revistas Académicas de la Universidad de Chile. DOI:10.5354/0718-8749.2012.25855. pp. 174-204 [Indexed journal: ERIH Plus, DOAJ, EBSCO, and others]

Recent Papers

Conferences, Seminars & Workshops

(2021) ““Compañeros: hasta aquí explota el Estado capitalista. ¡Nos vemos mañana!”: memorias masculinas de clases medias en Chile, década del 70” at the 39th Latin American Studies Association (LASA) Conference, Virtual Congress, 26–29 May 2021

(2021) ““Art. 4º Chile es una república democrática”: El impacto social de la Constitución chilena de 1980 bajo el lente de revista Apsi” at the virtual symposium The Rise and Fall of Chile’s “Authoritarian Democracy” (1970-2020) at LAI, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, 23 April

(2019) “When Chile stopped being a ‘blissful copy of Eden’: Chilean middle classes radicalization and the fragmentation of the ‘Integral Chileans’ in the 1970s” at the symposium Aspirational politics? Exploring repercussions of emerging middle classes in Latin America, at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany, 16–18 May

(2018) “El espacio urbano como indicador de clase: desenmarañando aspiraciones sociales, transformaciones culturales y políticas en Ñuñoa, Santiago de los 60” at the 56th International Congress of Americanists (ICA), Salamanca, Spain, 15–20 July

(2018) “‘Por la razón o la fuerza’: la radicalización de las clases medias y el trauma cultural durante la década del 70” at the 36th International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association LASA Conference, Barcelona, Spain, 23–26 May

(2018) ““Political Immigrants: The ‘Chileanization’ of Arabs and Jews and their civic background (1930-1970)” at the Migrants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers Re-thinking Migration to Latin America and the New Ethnic Studies joint research workshop, Freië Universitát Berlin – Tel Aviv University, Berlin, Germany, 20 April

Lectures

(2021) “Entre el cielo y el suelo: las identidades elásticas de las clases medias (Santiago de Chile, 1932-1962)” Book discussion guest, Research Seminar on Middle Classes, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Cuajimalpa (UAM), Mexico. Host: Dr. Mario Barbosa

(2019) “‘Por la razón o la fuerza’: Metamorfosis de prácticas cotidianas, espacio y clases medias en Chile y su diálogo regional (1970-1990)” Invited Lecture at the Institute for Research in the Humanities and Human Science (IdIHCS), Universidad Nacional de la Plata (UNLP), Argentina. Hosts: Dr. Graciela Queirolo and Dr. Enrique Garguin

(2019) “‘By reason or force’: Space, nationhood and class under the shadow of cultural trauma in Chile, 1970-1990” Invited Lecture at the Centre for the Study of Modern and Contemporary History, University of Edinburgh, UK. Host: Dr. Emile Chabal. Commentator: Dr. Tereza Valny

(2017) “Las identidades de las clases medias chilenas en la década del 70” Invited Lecture at History Colloquium, Lateinamerika-Institut, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. Host: Prof. Dr. Stefan Rinke

(2017) “Santiago de Chile y sus transformaciones: el espacio urbano como indicador de clase en el s. XX” Invited Lecture at Aboy Chair of History of Urbanism, Faculty of Architecture, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Host: Prof. Architect Rosa Aboy

(2016) Invited Lecture in Hebrew course at the School of Semitic Studies, Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, Universidad de Granada, Spain. Host: Prof. María José Cano

Awards, Prizes & Fellowships

(May 2021) Past Presidents Scholarship recipient: full scholarship for the First Certified Oral History Boot Camp by Southwest Oral History Association (SOHA)

(May 2021) Latin American Studies Association grant for the 39th International Congress of LASA, 26–29 May 2021, Virtual Conference

(Dec 2019) Latin American Studies Association travel grant for LASA2020, the 38th International Congress of LASA, 13–16 May in Guadalajara, Mexico (grant suspended due to COVID-19)

(Mar – May 2019) CSMCH-IASH Visiting Postdoctoral Fellowship in Modern and Contemporary History at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH), University of Edinburgh, UK

(Oct 2016 – Oct 2018) Max Planck Society, Minerva Foundation Postdoctoral full research fellowship (24 months)

(Apr – May 2016) Etta Becker-Donner Scholarship for Latin American researchers. Full grant for participating in the 32nd Annual Conference Lateinamerika Forschung (LAF), Austria in Strobl/Wolfgangsee, 29 April – 01 May, and for visiting the School of History at the University of Vienna, Austria

(Dec 2015 – Jun 2016) Erasmus Mundus Academic Network EDEN Postdoctoral full Research Fellowship

(Jun 2015) Paedagogica Foundation Grant awarded

(Jan 2015) Latin American Studies Association travel grant for the 33rd LASA Conference, 27–30 May in San Juan, Puerto Rico

(Oct 2014) The Zvi Yavetz Graduate School of Historical Studies scholarship

(2010–2014) The Tel Aviv University Zvi Yavetz Graduate School of Historical Studies full fellowship (tuition and living expenses) awarded

(Jun 2013) The Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities at Tel Aviv University travel grant for research trip to Llilas Benson Latin American Collection at University of Texas at Austin

(9–11 Jun 2013) Jacobo Kovadloff travel award for the 16th Latin American Jewish Studies Association (LAJSA) Conference at The University of Texas at Austin

(Jul 2012) Travel grant from Sverdlin Institute for Latin American History and Culture at Tel Aviv University for the 54th International Congress of Americanists (ICA), University of Vienna, Austria

(Aug – Dec 2011) The Tel Aviv University Zvi Yavetz Graduate School of Historical Studies travel grant, and Sverdlin Institute for Latin America History and Culture travel grant for research trip to Chile

External Profile

Academia.edu