Dr Fira Chmiel

Doctoral research: "Memory, a house that turns: childhood and exile in the last dictatorship"

I recently finished my doctorate: "Memory, a house that turns: childhood and exile in the last dictatorship". As part of the studies on the generational perspective in the field of memory, the thesis explores, from a biographical approach, the childhood memories of those who experienced exile during the last dictatorship in Uruguay (1973-1985) and Argentina (1976-1983). My interest stems from a research perspective that attempts to articulate childhood and politics from the memories of those who went through this complex experience, result of the repression of authoritarian governments.

The experience of exile in general is seen and studied from an understanding of the adult age of its subjects. Although adults guided the exile route, many children were also part of that experience. Exploring the memories of those who have gone through the experience of exile during their childhood allows us to delve into the ways in which the children of that time were also actors of the historical process and of everyday family life.

In research, I focus on childhood memories to explore the ways in which the experience of exile is subjectively inscribed. To this end, I consider the postulates of human geography and pay attention to the spatial dimension of daily life. This allows me to understand the senses and interpretations that arise from scenes reminiscent of childhood homes, transit spaces, the experience of uprooting in displacement, the affections involved in remembrance, among other aspects that still populate the memories. Thus, the memories of childhood in exile are proposed as "houses" that harbor features of a singular subjectivity crossed by the experience of exile.

Published Work

• La conquista del umbral: los espacios de tránsito en las memorias de las infancias en el exilio de las últimas dictaduras de Argentina y Uruguay. Historia Crítica, (80), 129-151. https://revistas.uniandes.edu.co/doi/pdf/10.7440/histcrit80.2021.07

  
  

• Un hogar en la constelación: espacio y afectividad en el recuerdo de la infancia en el exilio. Revista De La Red Intercátedras De Historia De América Latina Contemporánea, 1(14), 150–172.​

  https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/RIHALC/article/view/33412​

  
  

• Las Casas de Sal: espacialidad y afecto en las memorias de las infancias en el exilio. Sociedad e Infancias, 4, 111-122. https://doi.org/10.5209/soci.67791​ ​