Of violence, faith and obedience. A biographical-theoretical and discourse-analytical study of former members of Colonia Dignidad

Dissertation project Friederike von Ass, M.A.

This doctoral project examines the life histories of former members of Colonia Dignidad in Germany. Colonia Dignidad was a new religious movement of German origin that existed in Chile from 1961 to 2005 and was characterized by a totalitarian system of physical, sexual, and psychological violence, as well as comprehensive social control. With the arrest of Paul Schäfer, the community’s leader, in 2005, a gradual opening to the outside world began, along with a process of the group’s dissolution. About one-third of the approximately 300 members returned to Germany during this period. With the dissolution of Colonia Dignidad, a process of coming to terms with and addressing the crimes committed there began—a process that continues to this day.

This doctoral project picks up where the group’s dissolution left off and examines the following research questions: What biographical structures of action and processing have the former members of Colonia Dignidad developed over the course of their lives? How have they processed, interpreted, and integrated the life-history crisis caused by the dissolution of Colonia Dignidad into their biographical self-constructions? At the same time, the study examines whether biographical transformation processes can be reconstructed, and if so, how they take shape. What role does public discourse play in this process? More specifically: Which interpretive patterns from public discourse do the biographical subjects adopt and integrate into their biographical self-constructions, which ones do they reject, and which ones do they transform? These questions will be explored using a biographical-theoretical and discourse-analytical approach. Through biographical case reconstructions, the respondents’ patterns of action and processing, as well as the biographical transformation processes, will be reconstructed. By supplementing these with an analysis of public discourse, it becomes possible to trace which interpretive patterns of public discourse the biographers refer to in this process.

The project thus makes a significant contribution to research on the biographical processes of change and reorientation that former members undergo following the dissolution of or their departure from a closed religious group, as well as in the context of constantly evolving public discourses.

Contact Information

Friederike von Ass

Researcher at the SOCIUM Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy in th department Life Course, Life Course Policy, and Social Integration at the University of Bremen.

Website: Friederike von Ass

E-Mail: fvonass@uni-bremen.de