MAPS-URBE · The invisible city. Mapuche mapping of Santiago de Chile.

The invisible city. Mapuche mapping of Santiago de Chile.

The research explores experiences of urban space among young indigenous Mapuche living in Santiago de Chile, in order to make visible indigenous subjects whose daily lives, collective concerns and social circumstances are often relegated to the margins of policy making and public interest. It seeks to research the impact of displacement and social exclusion on indigenous youth, as well as offer a means of intervention. The project developed a series of collaborative and participatory methods, including mapping, video and exhibition making, to offer a better understanding of indigenous experiences of the city. The collaborative research offered young Mapuche an opportunity to make an active intervention into public discourse, not only enhancing the understanding of the indigenous relationship with and experience of the urban context, but also providing an ethical framework of empowerment that places collaborative goals at the centre of anthropological research. Establishing a field of inquiry that is of concern, interest and relevance to the research participants has shaped the project’s directions and outputs, giving it a deeper relevance in addressing key social issues in context of multicultural and multi-ethnical relationships. As such, the project significantly contributes to raise public awareness concerning the need of engaged anthropology beyond academic environment. The outlined overall aim of the project can be divided in three main objectives: Ob.1: To offer a better understanding of young Mapuche perceptions of the city and it’s representations through a participatory, performative and creative mapping process. Ob.2: To address the relationship with older and non-Mapuche by opening up a dialogue through the displaying of a 'Mapurbe Map' of Santiago, to be shared with the citizens of the Chilean capital and subsequently with European academia and general public. Ob.3: To co-construct an innovative methodology, drawing together creative methods and visual anthropology as a means of dissemination that will give the project an extended public life. Overview of the results: > MapsUrbe art exhibition (December 2018 - January 2019, Santiago, Chile) > Site-specific theatre performance 'Santiago Waria, pueblo grande de Winkas' (27 and 28 of December and on the 17, 18, 19 of January 2019, Santiago, Chile) > Project website: www.mapsurbe.com (with two sections dedicated to the exhibition and the performance, including audio and video) > Book: the book has been conceived as an interactive device, connected to the website and including a written version of the site-specific performance. Drawing together narratives, performances, and artistic representations, and working with and through multiple materials and different authorships, the volume situates in the emerging field of multi-modal ethnography. As an edited collection co-authored with research participants, it represents the most important elaboration of the developed methodology, challenging the boundaries of the anthropological discipline in terms of authorship, participation, and experimental ethnographic methods. > Additional publications (journal articles)

Data: CORDIS, © European Union