Identity in Contexts of Social Exclusion. Inequity and Aesthetic Expression in Barbacoas (Medellín, Colombia)

Abstract

This research article gives an account of the processes of cultural identity formation and aesthetic representation in Barbacoas, a sector in the center of Medellín (Colombia). This space is characterized by the convergence of forms of exclusion that generate adverse conditions for its inhabitants such as sexual, economic, political and social segregation. An analysis of the conditions of aesthetic expression is carried out, for which the autoethnographic method is used based on the participant observation technique. Collaborative artistic exercises are also carried out in context with the various actors who are part of Barbacoas. As a result, detailed characterizations of identity formation and aesthetic expression are obtained that allow inhabitants not only to survive and survive, but also to create social groups. Despite being on the margins of the implementation of public policies, these groups enable their members to build heterogeneous cultural representations and symbolic systems that are meaningful to themselves.

Keywords

• identity
• aesthetics
• resistance
• art
• craft
• medellín