RURALITY AND “INTERIOR BORDER” IN THE CHILEAN PATAGONIA: DOMESTIC UNITS, DAILY LIFE AND NEW AXES FOR UNDERSTANDING

Abstract

 The Chilean Patagonia possess a number of characteristics that makes it clearly distinguishable among other regions, such as its natural attributes, the scarce diversification of productive activities and perception of remoteness from the places where decisions that affect their inhabitants are taken. A low population density, poorly served roads, poor provision of services and food dependency, provokes that much of the political and symbolic relationships of this bio-region are only formal in relation to the State. They consigure a horizontal rather than a longitudinal country, whose reference systems are located in Argentinian towns. These aspects that define the conditions of living, together with new forms of territorial appropriation, and different forms of investment, constitute the elements of discussion used to problematize the process of rural reterritorialization of Patagonia in the most neoliberal country on the continent. We present here an analysis of the north Chilean Patagonia using an ethnographic method, asking about the daily life of their domestic units.