Activism in transition: generations and political subjectivation in the Chilean post-dictatorship student movement.

This thesis aims at understanding the process of political subjectivation in the postdictatorship student movement in Chile. To do so, it compares the life stories of two generation of activists: those involved the 1997 student mobilization and those involved in the 2011 mobilization. Through the use of a narrative perspective, the analysis springs two main axes: memory and class. In the case of the 1997 generation, memory is a complex issue as they struggle to construct a collective identity and political subjectivation that is able to both relate to the past, but also to reflect the new character of their struggle. For the 2011 generation, they build their collective identity through a process of postmemory, allowing them to produce a coherent and proactive political subjectivation. Regarding class, the 1997 student movement memories are shaped by class distinctions, however they do not translate into class grievances. In the case of 2011, class identification fosters a strong political subjectivation from first generation students who feel emboldened by the pervasive character of this framework.