Historical memory in the Chilean contemporary graphic narrative

Abstract

Memory and remembrance represent two fundamental human qualities for generating critical thinking and moving towards fairer and more egalitarian societies. The memory discourses are built through individual memories taken from the historical past and shared in a common identity. In this aspect, the comics and national cartoons created in every country can play an important role in shaping, modifying or configuring of their historical past. In the particular case of Chile, its graphic narrative offers important examples of stories that describe diverse situations and stories but have as its backbone the enhancement of the political and economic conditions of Chilean society. This research analyses the main social and vindictive themes that Chilean graphic representation has work on over the last decade. Most of the themes relate to each other and demonstrate the importance of the Chilean national comics in the perception of a collective narrative and critical memory.