“I think memory sites are the same as the scars in your body”: The tensions of memorial production and the use of space in memory sites in Chile.

Abstract

Much of the research conducted on transitional justice in Chile has focused on social memory and memory policies. However, limited attention has been paid to the process of memorial production taking place in specific spaces and places during the postdictatorship period. The present study examines how five Chilean memory sites perform this task by means of 16 interviews with people linked to these places in some way (e.g., as workers, volunteers, visitors, or academics). On the basis of data produced, an analysis of biographic and contextual elements was conducted using the thematic networks technique (Attride-Stirling, 2001). The authors argue that, in line with the Chilean context, the memorial production of these sites is marked by tensions derived from internal factors and from their contact with the State and other members of the community.