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Participation in Neighbourhood Organizations and Community Relationships PARTICIPATION IN NEIGHBOURHOOD ORGANIZATIONS AND COl4MITdITY DEVELOPMENT IN LOW-INCOME NEIGIFBOURHOODS OF SANTIAGO, CHILE: 1983-1995 John David Cameron B-A,, University of King's College, Dalhousie University THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES in the Department of Spanish and Latin American Studies @ John David Cameron SIMON FRRSER UNIVERSITY June, 1996 All right reserved, This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author- Natimal Library Bibliothmue nationale 1+8 ofCanada au Canada Acquisitions and Direction des acquisitions et Biblmraphic Services Brmh &s services bibliographiques Your file Volre re~~e Our ltb Nolre r&f&ence The author has granted an L'auteur a accorde une licence irrevocable non-exclusive licence irrevocable et non exclusive allowing the National Library of perrnettant a la Bibliotheque Canada to reproduce, loan, nationale du Canada de distribute or sell copies of reproduire, prgter, distribuer ou his/her thesis by any means and vendre des copies de sa these in any form or format, making de auelque maniere et sous this thesis available to interested quelque forrne que ce soit pour persons. mettre des exemplaires de cette these a la disposition des personnes interessees. The author retains ownership of L'auteur conserve la propriete du the copyright in hie/her thesis. droit d'auteur qui protege sa Neither the thesis nor substantial these. Wi la these ni des extraits extracts from it may be printed or substantiels de celle-ci ne otherwise reproduced without doivent &re imprimes ou his/her permission. autrement reproduits sans son autorisation. ISBN 0-612-16820-4 APPROVAL Name: John David Cameron Degree: Master of Arts Title: Participation in Neighborhood Organizations and Community Development in Low-income Neighborhoods in Santiago, Chile, 1983-1995. Examining Committee: Ronald Newton Professor, History Senior Supervisor Rita De Grandis Associate Professor, SLAS Wy Zasldve Professor, Institute for the Humanities =:k%fessor. Hurnani ties External Examiner PARTIAL COPYRIGHT LICENSE f hereby grant to Simon Fraser Universi the right to lend my thesis, pro'ect or extended essay (the We oB which is shown below) to users o4 the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partid or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its ombehalf or for one of its users. I further zgme that permission for multiple copying of this work for scholarly purposes may be granted by me or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this work for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. TiWe of Thesis/Froject/Extended Essay Author:. (signarafe~i- In the early 1980s, participation in neighbourhood organizations in low-income neighbourhoods in Santiago and other Chilean cities increased significantly. Among :he organizations were community kitchens, food buying cooperatives, savings group and cooperative workshops. Many observers interpreted the emergence of these organizations as an indication of burgeoning values for 'community'. The decline cf neighbourhood participation in the early 1990s led many observers to identify a breakdown of 'communityf values. To understand how such an increase and subsequent decrease in participation could occur, this thesis examines the cultural, political and economic factors which have influenced participation in neighbourhood organizations in Chile since the early 1980s using theories of community development and culturd change. The thesis focusses on La Victoria, a neighbourhood in Santiago where both local residents and outside observers argue participation was high during the early 1980s but decreased substantially after 1990. By comparing La Victoria with other low-income neighbourhoods it is possible to identify the main factors which influence neighbourhood participation, In all neighbourhoods, residents must contend with forces which promote and forces which stigmatize collective action, In La Victoria, an ideology supporting iii collective action has traditionally enabled residents to overczme %any of the obstacles to neighbourhocd participation, However, a series of factors associated primarily with Chile's transition to democracy and neoliberal economic system has begun to undermine neighbourhood organization in La Victoria. The loss of an unequivocal enemy in the figure of former dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1930 has diminished the sense of common struggle in the nsighbourhood, while frustration with the form of democracy that has emerged in Chile has led many residents to feel that neighbourhood organization is ineffective. Furthermore, the ideology of neoliberalism has beeome hegemonic in Chilean society and has instilled individualistic attitudes in many Chileans, particularly the generation which grew up under military rule (19?3-199@), The thesis concludes that neighbourhood participation in La Victoria will continue to be relatively low in the near future, but that neighbourhood organization is subject to a cyclical effect in which frustration with private pursuits will eventually lead to a return to public action. ACXNOWLEDGEMENTS Field research in Chile for this thesis waul2 not have been possible without the financial support of the International Devefopment Research Centre (IDRC) Fellowship in Latin American Studies. I also wish to thank Rita De Grandis and M6nica Escudero for making possible a second trip to Chile with the 1995 SFU Chile Field School, There are many people in both Chile and Canada who deserve my thanks, but I cannot hope to acknowledge them ail. There are a few people, however, to nhom I am particularly grateful, Francisco Sabatini, at the Instituto de Estudios Urbanos, ~ontificaUniversidad Cat6lica de Chile, encouraged me with both academic support and friendship, and arranged for me to use the library at the [Tniversidad CatXica, Lina Brisso, in La Victoria gave up much of her time to talk with me about La Victoria's history and to introduce me to other Victorianos, Fernando Eichin'r; friendship and help with Spanish helped to make my research in Chile a happy and fulfilling experience. Rita De Grandis, my senior supervisor, has given me intellectual and moral support far bryond her academic obligations and I will be forever grateful for her friendship and guidance- Finally, 1 must express my deepest love and appreciation for my cornpadera, Susan McClure. Without her love, encouragement and patience, this thesis would never have been finished- TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS CHAPTER ONE Introduction CHAPTER TWO Defining Community CHAPTER THREE Methodology: Tools for Understanding Community Development CHAPTER FOUR Negotiating the Tensions of Neighbourhood Participation CHAPTER FIVE Community and Ideology in La Victoria CHAPTER SIX New challenges to Community Development in the 1990s CONCLUSION APPENDICES Appendix One: Map of Metropolitan Santiago Appendix Two: Map of La Victoria Appendix Three: Neighbourhood Organizations in Santiago Appendix Four: Interviewees in La Victoria Appendix Five: Interview Questions BIBLIOGRAPHY Chapter One Intraduction The Emergence of Neighbourhood Organizations in the 1980s In the early 7980~~Chilean and foreign observers began to remark on the proliferation of neighbourhood-based popular organizations in the poblaciorles of Santiago and other Chilean cities,' The organizations included community kitchens, food buying cooperatives, community vegetable gardens, income generating production workshops, savings groups, self-housing committees, first aid stations, health groups and neighkmrhood coordinating bodies. Women made up over 90% of the participants of these organizatLons which ' ~oblaci6n(plural : poblaciones) is of ten translated as shantytown or slum, but this does not zdequately portray the Chilean meaning of the word. Literally it means "population"; however, in Chile lt also refers to the low-income urban neighbourhoods which have been sanctioned by the state since 1957. These may equally consist of apartment buildings, neat private houses built from concrete or poorly constructed shacks of tin and wood. Many poblaciones resulted from illegal land seizures which gave birth to campamentos or squatter settlements. When the state granted formal ownership of the land to the squatters, the campamento became a poblaci6n.Other poblacionesresulted from official state housing programs which provided constructed or partially constructed houses (kitchen and bathroom) to low-income families. Spatially, no point m.most poblaciones is further than a ten minute walk from any other point. The population --wx~hin ' L such an area might range from 4,000 to 30,000 residents. In this thesis I will refer to poblaci6n and neighbourhood interchangeably. Metropofitan Santiago is composed of thirty-four municipalities (comunas) and the poblaciones are generally located in the poorer municipalities to the aorth, west and south of the city core. See map: Appendix 1. he inhabitants of poblaciones are known as pobladores (feminine: mad04. functi~nedalmost exrluslvely at the neighbourhood level. Practically aLi of the organizations began as subsistence- oriented groups to confront the harsh ec~nornieconditions created by the eccncztic policies of the Pinochet dictatorship.' The first neighbourhood organizations formed under the protective
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