Sama y Camarones: “Las fronteras que no fueron entre Perú y Chile”

Abstract

Most borders of the Southern Cone of the continent in the 19th century were not definitive in the twentieth century. Inherited conflicts due to an unclear area, border wars, territorial annexations and arbitration, were usual elements in the tasks of the national States in this sub-region. In the frame of unstable relationships, “borders that did not exist” came up between Chile and Peru; that is to say, those that were discussed diplomatically but rejected at the end, although they have had a long-lasting impact on their inhabitants. We called those borders “borders in transition”. This article follows the idea that there are actors who hold their own territoriality questioning –in certain moments– the off icial and state space. According to this speculation, we deal with the socio-spatial consequences of this “adjustment” in the collective imagination of inhabitants of Tacna, Arica and Tarapaca regarding territories that were Peruvian or Chilean, between Sama and Camarones rivers.