Memories of Boys, Girls, and Adolescent Victims of Political Prison and Torture by the Chilean Military-Civilian Dictatorship.

Abstract

This article reconstructs and analyzes the memories of victims of political prison and torture during the Chilean Military-Civilian Dictatorship who were minors when they experienced this violence. Participants in the study were 11 adults, six women and five men from the region of Valparaíso, who were victims of State terrorism during childhood and adolescence. The information production technique used was the focus group. A textual analysis was performed, based on interdisciplinary contributions from interpretation theory and discourse theories. The analysis of the information identified distinctive elements in the traumatic memories according to the sex-gender system associated with the private/public and passivity/agency dimensions. The results of this study reveal the urgent need to recognize boys, girls, and adolescents as people with rights who should be protected by both adults and States. Moreover, these results emphasize the need to implement early intervention programs in people affected by psychosocial traumas and disasters of different types, and improve their quality of life.