Commit to the country The woman and the infant as an allegory of the national reconstruction 1973-1975

Abstract

The censorship unleashed after the 1973 coup d’état not only affected the production of written texts, but also the circulation of images. On the one hand, the visual representation of the political enemy was annulled, who was devoid of face, body and humanity, reduced to a traitor and terrorist. On the other, and in parallel, the representation of certain key figures in the national reconstruction project was exalted: women and infants as
symbols of re-foundation, purity, subordination and a way of embodying an exemplary body-nation. This article aims to reveal under which discourses these corporalities are brought to the scene in this new Chile. For this, its presence in the press will be analyzed, between 1973 and 1975. However, in order to understand the predilection for its representation, the previous period will be briefly examined, tracing its continuity