In Memoriam: Marjorie Agosín

Marjorie Agosín, Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities, passed away on March 10, just shy of her 70th birthday. She began teaching at Wellesley in 1982 and was in her 42nd year in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. A mentor to many Wellesley students, she was a world-renowned poet and author of fiction, memoir, and academic scholarship. A fierce fighter for human rights and a spokesperson for Jewish and Latina cultures, she was an inspiration to countless people around the world.

Other than her beloved Chile, Wellesley (both the College and the town) became her base where, together with her husband, John Wiggins, her son, Joseph, and her daughter, Sonia, she flourished in a life of literature, music, art, and in which she brought together scholars and creators who—like her—spoke to the importance of remembering the horrors of the past as part of the search for a better future. For her, the Holocaust in Europe and the reality of the desaparecidos (disappeared) in Latin America under military juntas were fundamental tragedies that had to be constantly remembered.

Marjorie received honorary doctorates from Drexel University, Washington and Lee University, and Union College. She received seemingly countless awards, including the Pura Belpré Award, Letras de Oro Prize, Jeannette Rankin Award in Human Rights, U.N. Leadership Award for Human Rights, the Gabriela Mistral Medal for Life Achievement from the Chilean government, and the Fritz Redlich Global Mental Health and Human Rights Award.

Much of Marjorie’s indefatigable energy came from a sense of belonging to a long line of bold Jewish-Chilean women who had survived antisemitism in Europe to create new lives and histories in the Americas. Exile—both geographic and spiritual—​was a crucial element in her work, exceeded only perhaps by her fascination with memory. For Marjorie, memory was not just remembrances of things past, but also a vital force in shaping who we are and what we hope to be. She poignantly told journalist Jackie Abramian in an article in Forbes magazine in 2020, “Memory is the active cause. Memory will not remember itself. … Memory is a process, a constant commitment; without it we won’t remember the future. Memory is the future of the past.”

In Hebrew tradition, a common condolence upon a death is “May their memory be a blessing.” Marjorie herself had explained to me its meaning shortly before she passed away. Back then, it had seemed just a beautiful thought. But now I realize it was a prediction. Marjorie has now herself taken on some of the dimensions of a memory, and yet she is not inanimate. She truly does still live in me (and I am sure in many others), as we take part in that “active cause” of which she spoke. Remembering her passion and commitment for the rights of all, her talent for writing exquisite poetry, her generosity as a colleague and friend, is now indeed a blessing—and it is very much a memory that will shape our future.