Inhabiting in the City: the Aymara People in Arica, Chile. Social and Cultural Factors in Government Housing Programmes an Interdisciplinary Study.

The Aymara population in America is divided between Bolivia, Perú and Chile, with smallest percentage in this last country. Even so, in Chile the Aymara people are the second largest indigenous group, with a population of 48.000. They are located in northern Chile, especially in the “Arica Parinacota” and “Tarapaca” regions. In the past three decades, the Aymara people have migrated mainly to the large coastal urban centres, the cities of Arica and Iquique. With this situation they recovered their position in all ecological zones of the area (the highlands, the valleys and the costal area), after being confined to the highlands after the Spanish conquest.

However, the migration process has meant a large number of transformations. The traditional ways of inhabiting have to adapt to the housing programme conditions given by the Chilean state. This research attempts to document the current situation of how Aymara families live in the city of Arica, through an understanding of their traditional cultural roots.