This is an article on the disjuncture between memories in exile and the actualityof return, through a case study of Chilean exile returnees. It will be demonstratedthat 'diaspora involvement' can be contradictory within political transitions;the case of Chile demonstrates no unifying political route within thediaspora. Moreover, it will be argued that the context in which a diasporareturns is crucial to an understanding of this journey and resettlement. Thearticle will discuss the negotiation of an exile past with the new realities ofChilean society based on a 'pacted transition'. The nature of the Chilean transition,centred on political reconciliation without legal justice, deeply impingedon the returnee experiences explored within this article, intensifying feelings of a'second exile'. The article therefore offers an alternative view from below,ignored within much of the existing literature. © The Author 2015.

return Chilean exile Reconciliation

return migration Chile resettlement policy migrants experience diaspora