Memorias en conflicto en la esfera pública chilena: ficción televisiva y dictadura

Abstract

The first fictional series about Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship broadcast on Chilean open television for the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the 1973 coup generated a series of debates which had a great impact in the public sphere by reopening the tension of a past silenced by the transition to democracy. Along this line, the following research questions arise: what memories do the generation that lived through the coup (now aged 50-64) construct about Chile's recent past based on their interpretation of these fictional series? and why do these memories conflict in the public sphere? To answer the-se questions, the qualitative epistemological bases of interpretivism and social constructivism will be used to analyse eight in-depth interviews and two focus groups that were carried out with men and women from different socio-economic backgrounds who experienced the coup and the dictatorship (1973-1989), and saw the fictional series mentioned. Consequently, there were three types of memories in conflict in the public sphere: (1) encapsulated memories, (2) disenchanted memories, and (3) pragmatic memories, which resulted in a critical reading of Chile's recent past.