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Open Research Online The Open University’s repository of research publications and other research outputs Zozobra: the tensions of urban space Thesis How to cite: Cottam, Hilary (1999). Zozobra: the tensions of urban space. PhD thesis The Open University. For guidance on citations see FAQs. c 1999 The Author Version: Version of Record Link(s) to article on publisher’s website: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21954/ou.ro.000049b5 Copyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. For more information on Open Research Online’s data policy on reuse of materials please consult the policies page. oro.open.ac.uk ZOZOBRA the tensions of urban space Hilary Cottam M.A. Oxon, M.Phil. Sussex Thesis submitted for the Title of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Social Sciences (Geography) Awntwr rJu tl720352-S Open University 564n~bi'*-' ,J6't ,': ' 2+ tpIt1d 1% Marrh 1999 p\ ~fi,?~ 19 AL~+A>T ABSTRACT My enquiry starts from a practical perspective: that of the intractable problems of our inner cities; inadequate service delivery, absent infrastructure, poverty, unemployment. Themes unquiet and persistent. I offer a critique of approaches to policy and argue that post-structural theoretical shifts offer new practical perspectives and the potential for imaginative understandings, which remain largely unexplored. I focus on the built space and the emotions in an attempt to alter the perspective from which questions are asked, and to problematise the questioning process itself. Questions of method are integral to this thesis. The story told is that of the barrio of La Cihaga. It is at once a particular story; that of one of the oldest barrios of Santo Domingo, the capital city of the Dominican Republic, and of the individuals who live there. It is also a typical story of a deprived inner city area that can be found the world over. Residents of La Ciinaga discuss the public spaces of the barrio, the private spaces of their homes and their links and visions of the wider city which surrounds them. Stones tell of what it feels like to live in such a place, how the built environment affects social relations, the possibility of community, aspirations and a sense of self. In the second half of the thesis I look at the story telling process: the purpose of stories: their ability to reveal and heal. I return to my practical concerns and examine the implications of both my method and the findings uncovered in the first half of the thesis, for the concrete recurring problem of the barrio: waste and absent infrastructure. The result is a solution that neither I, nor the barrio residents, could have imagined at the outset. Acknowledgements First and foremost I would like to thank the residents of La Ciknaga who shared their time, their homes, their ideas and their dreams with me. Perhaps they know how much I enjoyed their company, they might not know how much I learnt from them. In particular I would like to thank my comadres Margot and Margarita, and Amparo in whose house I stayed. I would like to thank my supervisors Professor Doreen Massey and Dr. Steve Pile for their rigorous supervision and encouragement. My research was supported by an ESRC grant provided by the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Open University. I am very grateful for this financial support and also for the particular intellectual environment the Open University provides. I have enjoyed and benefited from long hours of discussion and debate with my supervisors and colleagues within the department. I would also like to thank Dr. Jo Beall and Professor Henrietta Moore for supporting me as an academic visitor at the Gender Institute of the London School of Economics and Political Science. My thanks also to Hazel Johnstone at the Gender Institute. In the Dominican Republic I am indebted to so many people for their support and kindness. Those who work for Ciudad Alternativa freely made their time and library resources available to me. 1 would particularly like to thank Andr6s Navarro; our debates and discussions have allowed my ideas to grow. Jorge Cela SJ and Jos6 Nuiiez SJ have generously shared their own PhD. research findings with me and been the source of invaluable information and fascinating conversations. Dr. Frank Moya Pons has continued to share his time, books and historian’s perspectives with me. I also benefited from discussing several aspects of my research with Wilfred0 Lozano at Flacso, Rafael Emilio Yunen at the Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra, Nelson Ramirez and Dr. Hugo Mendoza. Gianna Sangiovanni continued to provide provocative questions and friendship in equal measure, in addition to making available to me the library resources of Profamilia, where I am grateful for the patience and help of the librarians. I have also benefited from discussing my ideas and findings with Annie Selman, Ana Tholenaar, Magaly Piiieda, Remedios Ruiz and Fran Caceres. There are many who are actively trying to address the issues and problems which the city of Santo Doming0 faces and I am grateful to them for the time they took to share their own approach and ideas with me. In particular I would like to thank Rafael Espinal and Ing. William Castellanos at the Ayuntamiento, Ing. Luis Baez at CAASD, Nelson Toca at CONAO, Juan de Lemos at Dixi Dominicana, Milciades Mejia, Arq. Te6filo Carbonell and Arq. Cristobal Valdez. My friends and former colleagues Lilian Bobea and Taracy Rosado have supported me in more ways than I can count, practically, intellectually and emotionally. Marianela Olivares has continued to share her home with me above the bridge. I thank them from the heart. In Britain I would like to warmly thank Robin Murray for the support and encouragement he has always given me over the years. I continue to benefit from his inspiration and I am grateful to him for reading early drafts of this thesis. Matthew Lockwood, as well as being a treasured friend, has continued to provide me with intellectual and moral support in equal measure. Nelson Mella has been someone with whom I could discuss my research and the Dominican barrio, so far from home. They have both made helpful comments on early drafts. Finally, my thanks go to my parents and my sister Rachel, Jonathan Freedland, Ceri Wilmott, Burt Caesar and Susanna Lumsden. My special thanks to Zara d’Abo and Mary Cranitch: I would not have survived without them. Glossary 3 INTRODUCTION 4 La Cihaga: a corrosive city heart 4 The inner city: the intractable problem 6 The Barrio 9 Introducing La Cienaga 9 Fieure I: A Mar, of the Barrio of La CihaaaiLos Guandules IO AShon Histo4 and Profile of the Barrio - 13 Locating the Barrio within the City 23 Shape shifting: a theoretical critique and framework 33 Built Space and the Emotions 45 Shape shifting 57 CHAPTER ONE: THE BARRIO 60 Dissimulating Places 65 The Cafiada and The Callej6n 70 The Canada: an emotional construction 80 The Community 89 A Brief History of Community Organisation 92 The Community: a nineteenth century tool exported from above the bridge 100 Community Organisation: the practice 105 CHAPTER TWO: THE HOME 128 House hunting 129 Locating the Home within the Barrio 136 Crossing the Threshold 143 Small Objects of Desire 147 The Inner Home 155 Home: the Prison 166 CHAPTER THREE: THE CITY 174 The Monumental City 176 Visiting the monumental Lighthouse 178 The Monument’s History 186 Santo Domingo: the City as Construction Site 190 Constructing the Political Economy 196 The twentieth century 197 Mythical Foundations 207 The Sixteenth century Heritage 208 The Myth of the Marginal 212 1 A Journey Down the River 215 CHAPTER FOUR : STORY TELLING, SHAPE SHIFTING 224 Meeting Maria 227 Storytelling: content and purpose 234 memory, myth and history 235 the zozobra: dreams, anxieties, nightmares 250 Shape shifting: stories to heal the barrio and soul 260 CHAPTER FIVE: THE INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT: STREETS AND SEWERS 277 April 1997 280 optimism, pessimism: responses to the infrastructure project 281 state surveillance, violence: a growing dis ease 289 the presidential perspective: a story 299 interpretations: the witch and the priest 307 the month’s conclusion 315 CHAPTER SIX: WASTE: RE-THINKING THE MATTER 322 ‘Tremendous Rubbish’: the (re)source of Waste 332 waste: a source of income 335 The Waste Contract 344 The System Shattered and Renewed: a barrio solution 362 CONCLUSION 387 a summary 388 above and below: the foundational myth 392 built space and the emotions 398 the process 405 ANNEXE A: ON METHODOLOGY 411 Epistemological Concerns 412 The Research Process 417 selecting the barrio and the participants 418 group exercises 423 interviews and observations 433 Constructing a Text 436 Figure 3: Interview Guide for Semi Structured Interview 1996; community and social networks 438 bibliography 439 2 GLOSSARY basura rubbish, waste cariada open drain, gully or sewer callejdn narrow lanes, passages and alleyways chisme malevolent gossip cimurr6n freed slave decreto decree desalojo eviction Ilia spirit or being (associated with voodoo) merengue Dominican musical rhythm palos indigenous drums PlaY baseball pitch relleno filling, stufhg tiguere streetwise, also sometimes a criminal or member of street gang zozobra anxiety or tension, to over-turn Ayuntamiento City Council Ciudad Alternutiva Dominican NGO working in the barrios citywide COPADEBA barrio level organisation NGO non governmental organisation 3 INTRODUCTION ‘Only with the heart can one see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.’ Saint Exupiry LA CIENAGA:A CORROSIVE CITYHEART If you cross the suspension bridges which span the eastern and western halves of the Dominican capital, the barrio is clearly visible below.

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