Abstract

When there is neither direct experience nor formal socialization about a historical issue, the means of remembering rely only on collective memory. This study was based on interviews that addressed representations, explanations, and evaluations regarding the 1973 coup in Chile, in an intentional sample of 213 pre-adolescent students (mean age 11). A frequency analysis of the contents of their responses originated a model of the schemas of their narrations about this political event in terms of different narrative patterns. The data, obtained in 1997, allow identifying narrative patterns a quarter of a century after the event, before the debate about the legitimacy of the coup became widespread and its treatment at school was formalized. Contrary to hypotheses derived from social cognition and cognitive development literature, a basic level of information about the event was observed, along with coherent narrative patterns. The paper discusses these results in relation to other findings pertaining to the collective memory of the same event in adults, concluding that early and informal political socialization has had a long-lasting impact on historical memory. © 2013 by Psykhe.