Imagining Mobility at the “End of the World”

Abstract

Chile's geographical remoteness has largely defined the imaginaries people share about this Latin American country. Despite its historical image as finis terrae ("the end of the world"), migrants from all corners found their way to these isolated peripheral lands. Thanks to new means of transport and communication, Chile nowadays is as exposed to the global circulation of people, objects and ideas as the rest of the world. Based on a combination of archival research and ethnographic fieldwork, this article traces how old (and originally foreign) imaginaries about Chile as an inaccessible island keep on influencing how contemporary Chileans participate in and frame their perceived exclusion from a plethora of new transnational mobilities, regardless of whether they have the means and freedom to cross imaginary boundaries and real borders or not. Although increasingly under outside pressure, the value of immobility remains at the core of the Chilean social imaginary, geo-politics and cultural life.Keywords: Imaginary; Mobility; Utopia; Culture; Chile After the creation of the world, the Bible states that "on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done". What the Bible does not mention, however, is that … a very disturbed angel came to tell God that something unexpected had happened: Small amounts of all elements used in the creation of the world had been left behind. What to do with those? … The Almighty … ordered the messenger to throw them all on one pile, and drop them at any extreme end of the world he had just created. The archangel discussed the matter with his colleagues … and they hastily flew out to inspect the world. After a quick exchange of ideas, they decided that the Andes, which formed a barrier along the South American continent, seemed to correspond, in some way, to the place the Lord had designated. They took what was left and dropped it behind the huge mountain chain. That was how, between the Andes Mountains and the infinity of the Pacific Ocean, a narrow strip of land arose. (Mende 1952, 170)

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