Territorialized aesthetics of migrant habitat resistance

The case of “Población Los Nogales, Estación Central”

Abstract

In a context of increasing migratory flows in recent years, it has been possible to observe in Chile a broad cultural diversification manifested in particular processes of diversity and coexistence in cities, thus altering the everyday aesthetics of the territories. This research aims to comprehend how the material expressions of migrant habitat, within the framework of the transnational condition, engender forms of resistance to the dominant power in the territory. To achieve this, it is imperative to pay heed to the sensory aspects of habitat production, informed by a conception of aesthetics through the prosaic, distanced from the artistic, and much closer to daily life. It is concluded that territories amidst movements and burgeoning migrations harbor a dynamic capacity that can be articulated through resilient aesthetic manifestations, rooted in social processes associated with de-differentiation, invisibilization, and subordination.