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The present investigation sought to determine the variables that influence the types of collective memories, typified as recall, manipulated memory, and forgetfulness, elicited by 3 places linked to the dictatorship (1973-1990) in Concepción, Chile. A descriptive, quantitative research design was used, with a non-probabilistic accidental sampling to access 287 participants according to sociodemographic categories, political orientation, and justification or not of the coup in Chile. The instrument was applied in 3 places, 2 considered memory places, the University of Concepción Memorial and the front of the Cathedral, and one place of forgetfulness, the former Bahamondes barracks. Chisquare, Kruskal Wallis, Mann Whitney post hoc with Bonferroni correction, and logistic regression analyses were performed. Recall memories predominated (47%), secondly, forgetfulness (37%), and finally, manipulated memories (16%). Recall memories were associated with being young, left-wing (φ = 0.29), and rejecting the coup (Cramer's V = 0.18). Memory places were more associated with recall memories versus forgetfulness (φ = 0.19). Recall memories were more frequent at the University of Concepción and less at the former Bahamondes barracks. The conclusions consider the relevance of promoting memory processes focused on recall in the face of the threat of oblivion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article I will analyze the memories about the recent Chilean past constructed in the context of an investigation that invites people from different generations to visit memory places and to think collectively about the experience of the visit. I will argue that in the construction of these memories political violence, threat and fear operate as referents. While memory operates as an articulating process between past-present-future, what constitute that connection is the political state violence, the threat that this constitutes for those who carry out political actions that question or challenge the social order and the fear it produces. These referents are used to understand the present and to define generational individuals. I will show how three generational positions defined by their relationship to fear are built: the traumatized generation, the generation that inherited the fear and the generation without fear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]