Archivos personales de mujeres bajo dictadura: aproximación a los fondos documentales del Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos de Chile

Abstract

Objective: To identify, describe and analyse the narratives present in the documents donated by women to Chile's Museum of Memory and Human Rights (MMDH). Methodology: A mixed-method exploratory study which presents a descriptive statistical analysis of the collection of documents donated to the MMDH, according to the person making the donation and the genre; an analysis of the prohle, rationale, origin and type of experience described in order to propose a classihcation; and the analysis of 37 documents selected in order to illustrate this classihcation. Results: Despite the severe restrictions imposed on political activity, association, and public discourse, and the profound damage that state terrorism inticted on the social fabric, the personal documents of women bear witness to their fundamental role in the defence and promotion of human rights, as well as in the political, social and cultural mobilization against the dictatorship of Chile.