This thesis aims to understand how collective memory is being constructed and reconstructed in modern day Chile, and the role that political exiles have played and continue to play in pushing memory and responding to cultural trauma. It takes a closer look at the changing memory landscape of Chile, and shows how master narratives are contested and negotiated by social actors demanding truth and justice, thus broadening the perspectives on the past in a public space. These processes can be seen through the creation of sites of memory that serve as an important source of collective memory. The research focuses on the challenges Chilean political exiles have faced with repatriating back to their home country and living in modern Chile by analyzing retornado’s personal narratives of their experiences specifically during three periods of time—Allende’s Chile, in exile, and upon return to Chile—and how former exiles perceive and construct lived experiences in their memory today.

The core of the empirical data presented in this project is based on eight testimonies, five from returned political exiles and three from key players in the Chilean asylum process. The variety of testimonies from individuals with different backgrounds and experiences provide a more comprehensive, multi-angled perspective on the topic of Chilean exile.

This study of Chilean memories is important because the dictatorship continues to be the most controversial and contested period of time in Chile’s recent history. Collective memories are points of contestation and struggle between different social and political groups, but are relevant and important for understanding the past and contextualizing the events of the past with current social and political struggles.