Ruin/Waste: Temporal and Spatial Logics of the City of La Paz in Saenz and Viscarra

Authors

  • Irina Alexandra Feldman Middlebury College

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/bsj.2021.253

Keywords:

Chronicle, Jaime Saenz, La Paz, ragpicker, ruin, queer-time, Víctor Hugo Viscarra, Walter Benjamin

Abstract

This article analyzes spatio-temporal logics in the representation of the city of La Paz in Imágenes Paceñas by Jaime Saenz and the urban chronicles of Víctor Hugo Viscarra. Juxtaposing the concepts of chrononormativity and queer time, it explores how linear temporal logic remains insufficient for the understanding of the city and its inhabitants in the two narrative projects. The article postulates that the marginal spaces of architectural ruins and garbage dumps, and the marginalized people who inhabit queer space-time are key to “revealing the hidden city” and understanding its contradictory place in the national narrative and space.

Author Biography

Irina Alexandra Feldman, Middlebury College

Associate Professor, Department of Luso Hispanic-Studies

Published

2021-12-10