Street Guide as a Literary Genre: La Manada City

Abstract

This study thoroughly examines La Manada (The Wolf Pack) City, an artwork that illuminates the various forms of violence and oppression experienced by urban communities, particularly women and marginalized groups. Our research specifically focuses on the literary elements of this painted map which demonstrates the transition from defensive to artistic strategies as a means of survival. Initially, we aim to provide a comprehensive background of the artwork, including its title, social context, the incidents that inspired the idea, and the author’s activism. Subsequently, we scrutinize the literary resources of the 257 items that comprise the street guide of the map. By analysing the various names given to locations on the map, including literary devices and semantic fields, we observe reminiscences of classic surrealist paintings and the artist’s ability to protect herself while revealing the violence hidden behind the guise of antithesis, alliteration, metaphor, and other literary devices. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our research, we compared it to two other maps with different intentions. Our findings confirm the strength of La Manada City, which operates both locally and globally. As a representation of the former emporium city of Seville, our map exposes the adverse impact of dominant capitalistic strategies on community life, perpetuating inequalities for countless “poor owners of the world” by disregarding nature and culture.