Countering the ‘culture of oblivion’: reclaiming marginalised memories in post-dictatorship Chilean graphic novels and comics journalism

This paper focuses on the role of comics in countering the ‘culture of oblivion’ in post-dictatorial Chile by representing and engaging with the emotional and spatial dimensions/legacies of the Unidad Popular years (1970–1973). Specifically, it provides a close reading of Nicolás Cruz and Quique Palomo's , El Golpe: El Pueblo 1970–1973 (2014), which captures the atmosphere, passions, and emotions and struggles that culminated in the military coup in 1973. Drawing on theories of collective trauma and collective memory and by applying a textual and visual analysis, I argue that this piece of work functions not only as an important historical account, but as a powerful tool for preserving, interpreting, and transmitting the historical and political legacy of the UP-years, reclaiming previously (officially) silenced and/or marginalised memories/voices into focus. This is particularly important in a context that has recently seen the resurgence of political actors/groups aiming to distort factual events, seeking to forget the past, or simply legitimise Chile's horrible dictatorial past.