Contested and interdependent appropriation of space in a multicultural commercial neighbourhood of Santiago, Chile

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines experiences of making, inhabiting and appropriating space, in relation to the transformations of the political economy in an increasingly multicultural urban setting. Through processes of social production and construction of space, it explores the material, societal and symbolic processes at play. The entry points are memories, images, uses and material connection to Patronato neighbourhood (Santiago, Chile) by people of Korean and Palestinian ancestry. It analyses how claims of space authenticity, processes of ethnicisation and material appropriation of space – commonly understood as given by ‘cultural differences’ – respond to historical, economic and political shifts happening at a global and local level. Moreover, challenging the prism of socioeconomic conflict and separation, it shows emerging dynamics of social interdependence and adjustment, taking place alongside the reorganisation of ethnic boundaries. Such reorganisation allows settled migrants to develop a sense of belonging and control over space in a rapidly changing neoliberal city.