The processes of national reconciliation grounded on the acknowledgment of the violation of Human Rights have been accomplished in different countries in order to strengthen the current democracies. In this article we will focus on the Chilean case, which, in recent history, has attempted to move forward in the process of post-dictatorship reconciliation.The idea of reconciliation follows the logic of the rhetoric of branding; that is, it is sustained on the argument that the victims have been left branded after the traumatic experience perpetrated against them. In this process, the constitution of victim category and the consequent reparation are at the center of the process of reconciliation.The victim category has been used as the articulating axis of the struggles around the issue of Human Rights. Nevertheless, this process has helped to fix such identity in an essential, natural and homogeneous way. In this article we intend to question this construction in order to, on one hand, show its contingent character and its constant redefinition process; and on the other, contribute to opening up other spaces of political action in Chile today.
Montenegro M., M., & Piper S., I. (2009). Reconciliation and construction of the victim category: Implications for political action in Chile. Revista De Psicología, 18(1), Pág. 31–60. https://doi.org/10.5354/0719-0581.2009.17126
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