Abstract:
The deep marks left by the civil-military dictatorship reached not only the politically persecuted and their families, but also every citizen. Its legacy remains alive today in individual memory and social memory of citizens. The end of the dictatorship imposed forced silence and forgetfulness, avoiding the right to memory, truth and justice, as well as the elaboration of the damage produced. Facing a political problem must necessarily involve its political aspect, and not only its psychological one. After the Opening, the possibilities for repair for damage were restricted to social organizations that provided assistance and group psychotherapy. Recently, the creation of the Clinics of Testimony and Truth Commission were important initiatives of the State towards the investigation of crimes, public recognition of their responsibilities, politicization of the damage and its elaboration. Initially, we intend to present the Clinics of Testimony and Truth Commission as psychic and political reparations of the damages caused by the civil-military dictatorship. Then, we discuss a methodological possibility of research involving memory in Social Psychology and possible contributions of this action for the repair of damages. Social psychology works at the boundary between the individual and the social spheres, between the psychological and political aspects, important for repairing the damage caused by dictatorship. The work of the social psychologist with the evocation of memory can contribute to both elaboration and reflection of the experience of the person who produces testimony, as to the political task of thinking its foundations, so that this experience is not repeated.
Keywords:
Memory; Elaboration; Dictatorship; Social Psychology