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Profane maps, panoramic sights and alter-native images. Shapes of the Argentine-Chilean southern boundary in Ushuaia.

Abstract in spanish

In this paper, I put forward preliminary conclusions, based in the ethnographic observation of three cases of community image usage in the city of Ushuaia, capital of the Province of Tierra del Fuego (Argentina).

The recent provincialization (1992) of Tierra del Fuego National Territory, Ushuaia’s location as a border city together with a sustained immigration are the three essential focal points of the local economic development. The mentioned cases of the community image usage refer respectively to those three focal points and do not disengage from them. Firstly, the use by groups belonging to the civil society of the outline of the provincial map as a characteristic symbol in different public areas. Secondly, the repetition of the panoramic sight in the city’s photographic history. Lastly, the portrait in some examples of the recent local author photography. Thus, maps and photos are assessed in this paper as producers of a geopolitical symbolic representation fabric, both reflexive and performative.

Keywords: Map,photography,Panorama,Tierra del Fuego,Territory.
Author: Carlos Masotta. Licenciado en Antropología, Universidad de Buenos Aires. Miembro del Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) y del Instituto Nacional de Antropología y Pensamiento Latinoamericano (INAPL).
Received: April 16th, 2008, Accepted: May 15th, 2008
Revista Chilena de Antropología Visual - número 11 - Santiago, junio 2008 - 57/74 pp. - ISSN 0718-876x. Rev. chil. antropol. vis.