Autobiographical narratives and historical thinking: an opportunity for citizen action

Abstract

Students on rare occasions use historical skills in their civic development and to understand themselves. Based on this, the present research aims to analyze the transformations and resistances present in the students' accounts of the before, during and after the 1973 coup d'état in Chile, once a didactic sequence that it intended to develop historical narratives with autobiographical excerpts. Specifically, this article will focus on the agentivity of the characters and quasi-characters present in the narratives. The research methodology is mixed with qualitative predominance. The sample corresponds to thirteen stories prepared by a third year course of secondary education in Santiago de Chile, before and after the didactic intervention. The results of the analysis show that students present a negative perception of the idea of ​​conflict, since it is related to ideologization and radicalization. In addition, the initial stories manage to transform into historical narratives with autobiographical features because the excessive agentivity of historical figures such as Salvador Allende and Augusto Pinochet was decreased, giving way to the incorporation of conceptual quasi-characters, which could be related to the subjectivity of the students. In conclusion, if students are to use the skills of historical thinking to understand themselves and act as citizens, it is imperative that their autobiographical accounts be validated and systematically worked on in the teaching-learning processes.