This study examines the role of coping strategies related to positive reappraisal versus other cognitive strategies (deliberate rumination) as mediators between life impact and posttraumatic growth in survivors of the military dictatorship in Chile between 1973 and 1990 (tortured political prisoners and family members of political prisoners executed and missing). Survey data from 251 political violence survivors were analyzed using the SPSS PROCESS macro for bootstrapping indirect effects (Hayes, 2013). Results indicated that positive reappraisal (or reframing) coping mediated the relationship between life impact and posttraumatic growth. A serial multiple mediation model indicates that in the life impact to growth moderation process, rumination must be followed by positive reappraisal to drive this growth. These findings suggest that positive reappraisal of the traumatic experience is essential to achieve growth reports. Implications of these more complex relations are discussed for both counseling interventions and further research.

This article analyzes the post-memory of grandchildren of former political prisoners who were imprisoned under the Chilean civic-military dictatorship. The participants in the study were 14 young people of an average age of 21.4 years, from the regions of Metropolitana and La Araucanía. The life story was the technique used for producing the information. A narrative analysis was done based on interdisciplinary inputs from the theory of interpretation and discourse theory. The results of the analysis made it possible to identify the use of the metaphor of the hero´s journey in the narratives. The tension with respect to the positions of victim, witness and hero is discussed, as well as the need for social confirmation of experiences of political violence.

The present study sought to identify and understand the memory transmission and entrepreneurship processes conducted by children of victims of politically motivated imprisonment and torture during Chile’s civilian-military dictatorship. A qualitative methodology was adopted, with an exploratory and analytic-relational design being used. Twelve children of former political prisoners, seven men and five women, participated in the study. Focus groups were selected as a data production technique. A content analysis was conducted following Grounded Theory guidelines. Results suggest that the adult sons and daughters of survivors have taken up memory transmission and entrepreneurship based on their parents’ memories of political imprisonment and torture. They engage in memory transmission and entrepreneurship by constructing exemplary memories about their parents’ experiences. They transmit these memories to peers and to their own children once they reach adulthood, given the increased openness of Chilean society regarding these discussions.

Much of the research conducted on transitional justice in Chile has focused on social memory and memory policies. However, limited attention has been paid to the process of memorial production taking place in specific spaces and places during the postdictatorship period. The present study examines how five Chilean memory sites perform this task by means of 16 interviews with people linked to these places in some way (e.g., as workers, volunteers, visitors, or academics). On the basis of data produced, an analysis of biographic and contextual elements was conducted using the thematic networks technique (Attride-Stirling, 2001). The authors argue that, in line with the Chilean context, the memorial production of these sites is marked by tensions derived from internal factors and from their contact with the State and other members of the community.

Esta investigación tiene como propósito identificar los tipos de ciudadanías que emergen en el Chile preconstituyente (previo al estallido social y convención constituyente) según los tipos de derechos que las personas definen como prioritarios y que, como tal, reflejan las bases sobre las cuales se definirá el proceso constituyente que actualmente se encuentra en marcha. Para lograr esto, se estudiaron los derechos mencionados por cerca de 90 mil personas que participaron en los cabildos ciudadanos realizados en 2016. El análisis se realizó a través de dos técnicas complementarias, la primera fue la aplicación de redes neuronales artificiales, con el fin de identificar la base relacional de los derechos. Luego, y mediante algunas técnicas de ARS, se especificaron las bases de ciudadanías que estaban presente en estas deliberaciones populares.  Los resultados indican que, a través de las distintas configuraciones relacionales de los derechos mencionados por los participantes, se evidencia la emergencia de ciudadanías más tradicionales (liberales y republicanas) y otras, con una mayor fuerza, alineadas con los procesos políticos y movilizaciones sociales actuales, estas son: ciudadanía moderna, multicultural y diferenciada.