ExilE communitiEs and thEir diffErEntial institutional dynamics: a comparativE analysis of thE chilEan and uruguayan political diasporas *

resumen El artículo se concentra en la pluralidad de las experiencias de exilio político tal como se manifiestan en las comunidades de exiliados chilenos y uruguayos en la segunda mitad del siglo veinte. Enfocándose en las dinámicas de exilio como la interacción entre el país expulsor, el exiliado(a) y el país anfitrión, el artículo elabora dos fenómenos básicos: primero, el hecho de que los lugares de exilio pueden devenir, a través de las acciones de los exiliados, en comunidades de exilio, si como en uno de los dos casos analizados los exiliados logran movilizar y representar a los residentes en su conjunto. El artículo elabora la dinámica diferente que se da en este proceso en las dos comunidades, donde problemas personales y comunales se desarrollan y son tratados paralelamente a las actividades públicas relacionadas al exilio político. segundo, analiza la transición de una estructura trilateral de exilio hacia una cuadrilateral, cuando la arena internacional y global se transforma en una importante dimensión de las actividades políticas de los exiliados. abstract By focusing on the experiences of the chilean and uruguayan exile communities settling abroad during the last wave of dictatorship and repression in the 1970s, this article suggests ways to analyze exile communities in the late 20th century. By focusing in the dynamics of exile as the interaction between the expelling country, the person forced into exile and the host country in a changed international environment, it elaborates two basic phenomena: first, the fact that the sites of relocation (lieux d'exil) may become communities of exile (milieux d'exil). the article discussed the conditions effecting this transformation for the case of the chileans, as the exiles managed to galvanize their co-nationals through their actions and be the vectors representing the plight of the displaced, in parallel to personal and communal problems, which develop and are addressed in parallel to public activities related to the condition of political exile. second, the article discusses the structure of exile, which in this period undergoes a transition from a three-tiered into a four-tiered structure, as the international and global arena became an added major dimension conditioning the options and political activities of the exiles. palaBras clavE • comunidades de exilio • lugares de exilio • Exilio político • diásporas • arena global • dictaduras militares * the research that serves as a basis for this article has been supported by grants from the harry s. truman institute for the advancement of peace at the hebrew university of Jerusalem and the social and Behavioral research fund of Wake forest university. We would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers of this article for their learned and useful comments and suggestions