Abstract

CASAL, Silvana. Diary of a Childhood. Mariana. Secuencia [online]. 2017, n.99, pp.185-207. ISSN 2395-8464.  https://doi.org/10.18234/secuencia.v0i99.1398.

This article analyzes the childhood diary that one of my interviewees, Mariana, wrote during her childhood in the Argentinian dictatorship after her father was abducted in 1977 and the family was exiled to Mexico. Mariana allows us into her universe and shares her feelings and emotions. Her words, in letters to her missing father, illustrate her everyday life and that of many other children experiencing similar situations of violence. My aim is to show that children are social actors, whose contribution is vital to constructing a history that includes them as active agents. I address the historical importance of listening to children’s voices, and the significance of their childhood writings.

Keywords : history; childhood; violence; Argentina; Mexico.