Abstract

Based on the life histories of residents from La Victoria, a poor settlement in Santiago, Chile, this study reconstructed the central biographic elements in individual empowerment processes, linking them with the sociocultural context in which they occurred. Results show the following main characteristics related to individual empowerment: identification with struggle, coping with poverty, a positive attitude towards learning throughout life, a perception of meaning in life, the search for intimacy, and the desire to help others. The most empowering contextual elements found are the family models regarding work and the context that the La Victoria settlement offers its inhabitants as a protective space in which a sense of community and participation can develop. ©2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.