Childhood as an object of press discourse during the Chilean dictatorship (1973-1989)

Abstract

This work falls within new studies on childhood from a micro-historical perspective, addressing a subject that has been set aside from traditional historiography: children. It seeks to identify the children’s imaginary built through the press (Diario La Tercera) during the military dictatorship, distinguishing the purposes for which the concepts related to childhood were used by the regime. A corpus of news articles (432) was used to analyze emerging discourses on chilhood. Six topics were identified and may be proposed as six dimensions to distinguish childhood. It is noted that childhood fulfills various roles as a topic of press over the dictatorship years, showing the subjective transformations of a period.