Analysis of local community participation in the valuation process of Lota’s industrial mining heritage (1997-2021)

Abstract

This research addresses the process to enhance Lota’s industrial mining heritage, in the period between the Labor Reconversion Plan of 1997 and Lota Mining Complex’s application to UNESCO’s Tentative List at the beginning of 2021. This period allowed studying a series of strategies implemented by the State together with other actors, as well as understanding the involvement of the community in the commune’s revitalization process. The purpose of the research was to analyze these strategies, to make a comparison regarding the prevailing purposes and uses for each type of actor, according to the hypotheses and paradigms on the social uses of cultural heritage. To do this, the Critical Discourse Analysis approach and tools were applied to different documentary sources. The heritage valuation strategies and actions that emerge from the closure of the mines in Lota, were initially developed top-down, starting from the authorities. However, throughout the heritage valuation process, a series of instances are established where the local community begins to influence the comprehensive management of the site's components. In this way, the results of the research reveal a trend toward a horizontal relationship between the different actors involved in the safeguarding process, from a participatory approach that contemplates the involvement of the local community.