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This dissertation analyses and discusses the ways in which the interrelated concepts of media manipulation and propaganda are developed, problematised, and conceptualised in the plays Cómo el poder de las noticias nos da noticias del poder (1971) and Los culpables (1964) by the Spanish-Chilean playwright José Ricardo Morales. Through an interdisciplinary research grounded in the past and current Chilean contexts, this research examines Morales’ plays as critical texts that theorise and problematise the conflictive nature of media control and physical repression of social movements in authoritarian regimes, by dramatising their use of rhetorical and discursive strategies of persuasion. The analysis of the plays is complemented by a pilot research that examines and discusses the Learning Objectives (Objetivos de Aprendizaje) suggested by the Ministry of Education of Chile that match the topics developed in these plays. The analyses formed the basis for a focus group conducted with secondary school teachers regarding the potential use of the plays as interdisciplinary and contextualised pedagogical learning tools in secondary school courses, whose results indicate that implementing these plays may encourage students to critically analyse and discuss specific past and present-day Chilean conflicts from different disciplinary perspectives. This dissertation highlights Morales’ denounce of the ways authoritarian regimes repress anti-authoritarian contestant voices and manipulate public opinion through the media by focusing on the specific context of Chile. Moreover, it provides a long overdue visibilisation of the insufficiently studied agency of Morales’ plays as actors for social mobilization, engineering and transformation.

This work looks for an understanding of the frames of significance in the informative discourses of the mapuche digital media Werken.cl about the topic of ‘territory’, regarding the situational context of the chilean-mapuche struggle. The semiotics that is produced on territory operates as an affirmative identitary system for the mapuche people and as a core element in the sovereignty mapuche reconstruction project. The results hold that the topic of territory is enrolled in a significance system that legitimates the processes of reivindication and territorial recovery as part of a political and identitary project of reconstruction ofthe mapuche country., Este trabajo busca comprender las tramas de significación presentes en los discursos informativos del periódico mapuche Werken.cl en torno al tópico ‘territorio’, considerando el contexto situacional marcado por el conflicto chileno- mapuche. La semiosis producida en torno al territorio opera como sistema de afirmación de la identidad del pueblo mapuche y como elemento central en el proyecto de reconstrucción de la soberanía mapuche. Los resultados establecen que el tópico territorio se inscribe en un sistema de significación que legitima los procesos de reivindicación y recuperación territorial, como parte de un proyecto político e identitario decolonial y de reconstrucción del país mapuche., Este trabalho busca compreender as tramas de significação presentes nos discursos informativos do jornal mapuche Werken.cl sobre o tópico ‘território’, considerando o contexto situacional marcado pelo conflito chileno-mapuche. A semiose produzida em torno ao território opera como sistema de afirmação da identidade do povo mapuche e como elemento central no projeto de reconstrução da soberania mapuche. Os resultados constatam que o tópico ‘território’ se inscreve em um sistema de significação que legitima os processos de reivindicação e recuperação territorial, como parte de um projeto político e identitário decolonial e de reconstrução do país mapuche.