Abstract

The memories of militants from leftist, revolutionary organizations that remained active after the Pinochet dictatorship emphasize how motherhood and family bonds affected women’s practices in their organizations during the Chilean transition. Through interviews with ex militants from the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionario (MIR), Lautaro, and Movimiento Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez Autónomo, we analyze how “motherhood” and “family” not only reproduced traditional imaginaries, but also promoted strategic possibilities of action, agency and resistance. This was the case both for those who resisted the new transitional democratic pact in their organizations and ex organizations, as well as for those who remained incarcerated as political prisoners. Additionally, we also propose that an “affective solidarity” was created, between militant and non-militant women, in some specific contexts