The Urban Poor and the Grid: Political Ecologies of Electrification in Santiago, Chile, 1960-2020

FAIN: FEL-289305-23

Edward Murphy
Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI 48824-3407)

Research and writing leading to a book on the electrification of Santiago, Chile, and its effect on the urban poor, 1960 to 2000.

This book analyzes the ways in which squatters and former squatters, whose numbers worldwide may be as high as one billion people, fit into a world of rapidly expanding electricity use. Drawing on the revealing case of Santiago, Chile, the book develops how, during the past sixty years, approximately one million squatters have gained access to electricity in a city of a little less than six million people. In doing so, the book underscores the hidden, yet consequential ways in which gaining access to electricity has not only shaped the lives of the urban poor, but also the overall evolution of the electrical grid. In linking these two histories normally cast as separate, the book develops a novel perspective on the urban poor and the environments within which they live. It demonstrates how infrastructures have played crucial roles in the making of the city in the Global South, in which the political question of who gets access to them and under what conditions is critically important.