For Anthropology from the debris: The Social Revolt In Plaza Dignidad, Santiago de Chile

Abstract

This work is a theoretical and ethnographic approach about the city in ruins and the debris left by recent social protests in Plaza Dignidad in Santiago de Chile. In order to move towards an anthropological definition of the debris, we should ask ourselves, what is the debris after the protests and what place does it inhabit inside the city? What can it tell us and what accounts do these cracked and fissured remains contain, hide and destabilize? Why have they become a field of dispute, a field of forgetfulness, discomfort and fascination? Through the ethnographic and photographic records of post–revolt materialities, the analysis is organized into four dimensions: Skin and patina of the environmental memories; Ambivalence of form and destruction; Ghosts and fetish; Affections and topophilia in dystopia. It is concluded that whatever the ruined artifacts may be, they are always —like the residual materials they are— disorganizing and disconcerting the city, forcing it to reread and rewrite its significant forms. Herein may lie a secret fascination in the debris following the detonation of our city.