1 Introduction: Gender and Violence: La Vida Trágica de una Niña

Tia Deysi

The Essential Perspective of Gender and Violence

Unveiling the Layers of Tia Deysi’s Life Narrative

Historical Shifts and Trends

Self and Identity

Political Views and Ideologies

Memory and Inclusion

Tia Deysi, Petan: Dominican History and Memory

2 "Fate" and "Trauma": The Creation of a Life Story

Spawned from Herminia’s Whim

The Curse

More Evidence

With Papa’s Gun

Running Scared

Unfathomable: The Abandonment

Crushing Events

Bad Decision-Makers

Almost Raped

Moments of Joy

The Ultimate Betrayal of Trust

Author’s Corner: Context and Interpretation

3 Echoes of Fate and Trauma: From Childhood to Adolescence

Work and Punishment and No Love

Sick and Slandered

Fear and Obedience

A Teacher Makes a Difference

Finding God and Safety

A Predator Father

First Love

Dangerous Beauty

“Sold” to Petan Trujillo

Learning to Please Petan

Author’s Corner: Context and Interpretations

4 Being One of Petán’s Women in Bonao

Power and Fear

Intimacy with Petan

Special Conversation

Beauty and Glamour

The Other Women

The End of the Affair

God and Survival

Leaving Bonao

Making Sense of the Petan Experience

Beaten Up

Saying Goodbye to Mercedita

March 2022: Returning to Bonao for the First Time Since 1960

Author’s Corner: Context and Interpretations

5 The Warrior Mother: The Warrior Woman

Gualey 1961–1965

Love, Loss, Work, and Motherhood

The Greatest Joy

Herminia’s Love

Motherhood, Marital Conflict, and Entrepreneurship

My Brother’s Assassination

Life in Santiago: 1972–1977

A Hard Knock Life

Back in Capotillo: 1977–1983

Guaricano (1983): Divorce, New Beginnings, and New Challenges

Author’s Corner: Context and Interpretations

6 Contemplations and Reckonings

The Filters of Age and Gender

Work, Sacrifice, and Pain

Looking Back: Tia Deysi’s “Regrets”

Telling One’s Life: Tia Deysi’s Insight on her Life Narrative

7 Epilogue: Five Reflections

Gender and Violence: Bridging the Dominican Past and Present

Thinking Methods

Interviewing My Aunt

Dealing with Problems

Biases

Translation

Editing

The Formalities of the Interview and Publication Processes

On Power

Gender in Contemporary Dominican Society

“Foundations of Despotism”

Dominican Memory

Borron y Cuenta Nueva: A Closer Look

“Facilities of Memory” and Memory Work

Memory of the Martyrs of the Resistance

The Narrative of Redemption

Trujillo in Dominican Culture

The Trujillo Ven a Ver Discourse: Linking Dictator Trujillo with the Present

Corrective Impulses: “Laws of Memory”