Patrimonio: Entre la tregua melancólica y un lenguaje para la declinación. La transformación urbana de María Elena, norte de Chile

this paper deals with the social representation of the crisis of the patterns of shared meanings and also of the historical elements legitimized through social practices and relationships in maria elena, a nitrate city in decline (northern chile). the focus of discussion is the transformation of working conditions and the link with the workers and families, and material ruin, since it is expressed through the questioning of the future as a vital project. this is inserted into the transformation of a town in a mining camp, where begins to install the notion of heritage. emptied the city of the old skills, family life, sociability and disuse of buildings of greater significance, it only begins to become a thematic park.