PhD Thesis Title: "Visual Histories of Youth Culture in Chile during the Dictatorship"
PhD Supervisor: Nicole Bourbonnais
Right after the end of the Chilean dictatorship, a tremendous work of memory was done. This fabrication of the dictatorship's history is criticised for its biased rendition of the reality of the Pinochet regime. Through its large influence from a legal basis and the contemporary issues regarding the transitioning democracy, History-making is maintaining a male gazed memory of the dictatorship, highlighting in majority of male perspectives. In this research, through its methodology and protagonists, the reality of young Chileans will explore other narratives through a decolonial and gender perspective. Close to a dissection of the emotional anatomy of the young Chileans living their young years under a repressive regime. This research is an ode to the Youth culture and to Chileans who believed and fought despite its risks. Observing the Chilean Youth Culture during the dictatorship means exploring a complicated age during a complicated time. In its roots it implores the reader to judge with its heart, to lose ourselves in the dreams and fears of others and to follow a new generation of Chileans with its very own cultural identity.
Francesca’s academic background is in International History and Political studies. Her current research at the Graduate Institute explores Chilean Youth culture during the dictatorship with a female gaze. Her academic journey, either through the Graduate Institute in Geneva (IHEID) or at El Colegio de México (COLMEX), revolves around Latin America, Gender Studies, Oral History and Colonial Switzerland. Her master thesis « El testimonio de mi madre » explores, through Oral history and the testimonial genre, her mother’s memory of the Chilean dictatorship and her exile to Switzerland.