Abstract

RODRIGUEZ TORRENT, Juan Carlos  and  MIRANDA BOWN, Pablo. Identity, Transformation and Patrimonial Rhetoric in a Mining City of Atacama Desert, Chile. Desacatos [online]. 2010, n.33, pp.151-166. ISSN 2448-5144.

This study derives from a synthesis and systematization effort, both in theoretical and analytical terms, regarding ethnographic material obtained during the last decade in the saltpetrous-rich city of María Elena, in the Atacama Desert, Chile. Identity formation, trajectories and experience of these city inhabitants, and the changes experienced by the settlement -a city conceived under the utopian tradition principles- are discussed. Emphasis is set on this settlement's transformation into a camp, and latter, towards an interest on the wealth-formation of the urban complex. This last form is observed as an expression of the changes experienced, which stem from the prevalence of a new model of accumulation, that in turn, has competitiveness, labour flexibility, quality production and globalization, as core elements, and that establish new relationships between inhabitants, workers and the territory.

Keywords : city; cultural change; labour flex; labour flexibilization; mining camp; patrimony.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )