Murals and politics of memory in a "critical neighborhood" of Santiago, Chile

Abstract

The recuperation of memories from territories that have suffered violence and political repression in Latin American Southern Cone countries, has been an important task on Social Science investigations. In Chile, poor urban neighborhoods have been one of the main focus of these works because of their active role in the resistance against the dictatorship. This research project centers its analysis on one of these neighborhoods that has the peculiarity of being cataloged by the Government as "critical", due to its current levels of violence and social conflict. The main goal is to analyze the configuration of memories and the politics that emerge from this mnemonic process through the murals located in this neighborhood, an area that has experienced conflicts and violence not only in the past but also in the present. Based on a qualitative framework, between 2016 and 2018 the investigation generated and analyzed a registry of the neighborhood's murals. Later, in 2019, this research project also produced data through participant observation of 5 murals and their nearby contexts. The main findings indicate that there is a "politization" of the memories that are depicted and configurated in the murals, by using the past for disputing different forms to live and coexist in this special territory.