Resumen

RODRIGUEZ TORRENT, Juan Carlos  y  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.

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