The Forced Migrations of Scholars During the Uruguayan Dictatorship: Refuge and Academic Labor Market Overlap?

International audience ; This chapter seeks to contribute to the study of displaced or ‘restricted’ intellectuals and academics by providing a case-study of the dictatorship in Uruguay (1973–1984) during which academics, trade unionists, journalists, intellectuals and artists were particularly targeted. At the time, the increase in qualified migration was the largest of the twentieth century. This chapter reviews the impact of the dictatorship with a broad analysis of the labor market and scientific exchanges after a return to Democracy in 1985. It shows that the exiles’ trajectories, and chances of successful reintegration upon return, differed based on their social and economic capital before exile, as well as their family situation and gender. The chapter also looks at academic reconversion, which is shown to depend on a sequence of some twenty years and a migratory trajectory spanning several countries concomitantly. Finally, the author argues that to understand the impact of a dictatorship on professional trajectories and subsequent policies of national reconciliation, the history of scholarly exile must also take into account resistance movements and the heterogeneous temporalities of political persecution. The example of Uruguayan exile offers a particularly illuminating diachronic historical perspective for understanding contemporary migrations under an authoritarian regime and offers valuable insights for current-day governments seeking to establish more supportive hosting policies.