The imposed identity: toponymic changes in the neighborhoods of Chile (1973–1980)

Abstract

This research aims at analyzing toponymic changes in Chilean neighborhoods after the coup d’état in 1973. My hypothesis is that the new authorities, in their intention to root out Marxist ideas, physically exterminate representatives and forbid their allegories, pursued the generation of cultural and identity changes in the popular urban sectors that had been bastions for the Popular Unity Party. In order to do so, they changed their emblematic left-wing toponyms, trying thus to reconfigure the political identity of the neighborhood population and imposed iconic names for the armed forces, as manifested in military deeds and heroes. For this exploratory research, various sources were used: press, oral testimonies, and official State documentation.