From nitrate town to internment camp

The cultural biography of Chacabuco, northern Chile

Bibliographic Data

ID2390969
AuthorsFlora Vilches (0009-0000-5427-0565, Universidad de Chile, Santiago de Chile, Chile, corresponding author)
Year2011
Volume16
Issue3
Pages241-263
Publication date2011-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Material Culture (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1359-1835 • E-ISSN: 1460-3586
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1359183511412879
OpenAlexW2324555194
LanguageEN
Citations received16
References cited8

Chacabuco is one of the many abandoned nitrate or 'saltpeter' towns in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. The nitrate industry flourished from about 1880 to 1930, introducing a new system of production and social relations in the country. Founded in 1924, Chacabuco was active only until 1938, when synthetic nitrate developed by German chemists in the early 20th century began to dominate the industry. Unlike other nitrate ghost towns, Chacabuco later became an internment camp for a short period (1973-1974) during Pinochet's military dictatorship. Chacabuco's architecture of surveillance worked well for the military as they reused the nitrate workers' residential units as cells for political prisoners. This article examines this change of use as well as other issues of continuity and change between the two occupations of the town. The author also discusses the ways in which archaeology may offer parallel and complementary evidence to documentary and oral sources

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Art history · Biography · Desert (philosophy · Dictatorship · Early modern period · Economic history · German · Nitrate · Period (music · Political science · Politics · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Architecture · Ecology · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · History · Latin American history and culture · Law