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Living Through the Chilean Coup d’Etat: The Second-Generation’s Reflection on Their Sense of Agency, Civic Engagement and Democracy

Tala Diaz, Denise
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1458-6287
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch159302076798197

Abstract Details

2020, Ph.D., Antioch University, Leadership and Change.
This dissertation illuminates how the experience of growing up during the Chilean dictatorship (1973–1990) affected the individual's sense of self as citizen and the impact on their sense of democratic agency, civic-mindedness, and political engagement in their country's current democracy. To understand that impact, the researcher chose to study her own generation, the “Pinochet-era” generation (Cummings, 2015) and interviewed those who were part of the Chilean middle class, who despite not being explicit victims of perpetrators, were raised in dictatorship and surrounded by abuse of state power including repression, disappearance, and imprisonment. The theoretical frame of the Socio-Political Development Theory (Watt, Williams, & Jagers, 2003) helped to understand the process that participants went through and how they moved from an A-Critical Stage, with a complete absence of awareness and understanding about what was happening in their world at the time of the coup d’Etat, to a stage of critical consciousness surrounded by empathy for those who were suffering human rights violations which were the main drivers to latter participate in a liberation process. This development of a critical consciousness was influenced—among others—by specific family and social context which promoted transgenerational (Uwineza & Brackelaire, 2014) and intergenerational dialogue (Reyes, Cornejo, Cruz, Carrillo, & Caviedes, 2015) processes, where values, heritage, and ways of acting were transmitted. The narrative approach helped to elicit stories about participants’ life events from the coup d’Etat to present. Through the exploration of 15 narrative interviews it was also possible to collect participants’ memories and observe how they currently manifest their civic commitment and social responsibility. Their collective memory, influenced by a collective grief (Metraux, 2005b), still lingers over 40 years later and helps us to understand their life-long commitment and passion to fight for justice. This generation was part of a social movement that managed to set aside its political and economic divides and its personal self-interests with the collective goal of restoring democracy. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA: Antioch University Repository and Archive, http://aura.antioch.edu/ and Ohiolink ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu/
Laurien Alexandre, PhD (Committee Chair)
Elizabeth Holloway, PhD (Committee Member)
Jean-Luc Brackelaire, PhD (Committee Member)
242 p.
Behavioral Psychology; Behavioral Sciences; Hispanic American Studies; Hispanic Americans; History; International Relations; Latin American History; Latin American Studies; Military History; Military Studies; Modern History; Psychology; Social Psychology; Social Research; Social Structure; Sociology
Leadership; Socio-Political Development; Critical Consciousness; Sense of Agency; Civic Engagement; Social Responsibility; Transgenerational Trauma; Historical Trauma Intergenerational Dialogue; Collective Identity; Collective Memory; Collective Grief

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Tala Diaz, D. (2020). Living Through the Chilean Coup d’Etat: The Second-Generation’s Reflection on Their Sense of Agency, Civic Engagement and Democracy [Doctoral dissertation, Antioch University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch159302076798197

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Tala Diaz, Denise. Living Through the Chilean Coup d’Etat: The Second-Generation’s Reflection on Their Sense of Agency, Civic Engagement and Democracy . 2020. Antioch University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch159302076798197.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Tala Diaz, Denise. "Living Through the Chilean Coup d’Etat: The Second-Generation’s Reflection on Their Sense of Agency, Civic Engagement and Democracy ." Doctoral dissertation, Antioch University, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch159302076798197

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

antioch159302076798197
675
© 2020, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Antioch University and OhioLINK.