Illegal Housing in Medellín

Autoconstruction and the Materiality of Hope

Bibliographic Data

ID2973115
AuthorsAdam Moore (0000-0002-2650-0543), Adam D Moore (0000-0003-2420-8597, Radboud University Nijmegen), Flávio Eiró (0000-0002-1291-4569, University of Groningen), Martijn Koster (0000-0003-0003-5345, Radboud University Nijmegen)
Year2022
Volume64
Issue4
Pages94-118
Publication date2022-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLatin American Politics and Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1531-426X • E-ISSN: 1548-2456
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/lap.2022.31
OpenAlexW3214181143
LanguageIT
Citations received6
References cited30

Drawing on ethnographic research in El Oasis, a highly precarious self-built settlement in Medellín, Colombia, this article examines the illegal practice of autoconstruction as a material expression of hope. It focuses on the multilayered, symbolic meaning of self-built housing, as it represents the pursuit of dignity, permanence, and agency-as opposed to poverty, uncertainty, and lack of agency-and an active and material form of hoping for a better future in the city. The state plays an ambiguous role in residents' perspectives, who conceive of it, simultaneously, as a threat to and a guarantor of their future in the city. This ambiguity becomes materialized in the physical form of residents' self-built housing, as residents either embrace or refrain from making improvements to their houses in response to shifting perceptions about the state's intentions regarding the future of the settlement

Aesthetics · Ambiguity · Art · Business · Categorization · Dignity · Epistemology · Ethnography · Political science · Poverty · Social science · Sociology · Anthropology · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · Gender Studies · Law · Urban and Rural Development Challenges · Water Governance and Infrastructure

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access