Smoky places: archaeology of smoking practices on public parks of a capital city (Santiago, Chile, South America)

Summary

Cigarettes are the most numerous, ubiquitous, and tolerated form of trash on the urban landscape (Graesch & Hartshorn 2014:1). This statement has special meaning in Chile, leading country in cigarette consumption in the continent and highly ranked at a global scale. On this basis, it has became a critical public health issue.  Current approaches in the study of this phenomenon are based on interviews, but no material study has been conducted. Considering the differences between people´s discourses and actions, along with the abundance and high rate reproduction of cigarettes in the urban landscape, archaeology may provide an alternative approach to assess smoking behavior. In this paper we present the results of an archaeological project targeted on the material dimension of smoking practices in public parks of Santiago. We discuss how the material information interplays  with that from interviews, socio economic statistics, and the geographical location of health and educational centers. 

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2016   •
• Historical and Contemporary Archaeologies of the City: Opportunities and Challenges

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

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PaperId(s): 223