Abstract

Following the logic of a case study, this research focuses on a popular neighborhood of Santiago (Chile), La Legua, recognized as an “emblematic neighborhood” for its struggles against the military dictatorship, and classified as a “critical neighborhood” by the State due to its links with drug trafficking. This classification has turned this neighborhood in a target of a controversial state intervention plan to counter violence. Through a discourse analysis based on an ethnography developed over three years in this neighborhood (2016-2019), this article shows how the social memories of the recent past are used by representatives of the local government, institutions and community organizations to reinforce certain neighborhood identities in the context of the Heritage Day. The article problematizes that the relationship between memories and social identities do not always produces liberating projects, but also produce tensions upon the social fabric and favor new and old forms of exclusion.