marcando el territorio nepantla o tracing nepantla

continous research and mapping project about feminist and migrant spaces in berlin

░T░h░i░s░ ░w░o░r░k░ ░s░t░a░r░t░e░d░ ░a░n░d░ ░w░a░s░ ░c░r░e░a░t░e░d░ ░i░n░ ░t░h░o░u░g░h░t░ ░o░f░ ░t░h░o░s░e░ ░w░h░o░ ░l░i░v░e░ ░i░n░ ░t░h░e░ ░
i░n░-░b░e░t░w░e░e░n░ ░s░p░a░c░e░.░ ░B░e░t░w░e░e░n░ ░d░i░f░f░e░r░e░n░t░ ░i░d░e░n░t░i░t░i░e░s░ ░a░n░d░ ░w░o░r░l░d░s░.░ ░T░h░o░s░e░ ░w░h░o░ ░l░i░v░e░ ░i░n░ ░N░e░p░a░n░t░l░a░.░

Glossary: collection of terminology around the concept of Nepantla I Foto 2021

“Living on borders and in margins keeping intact one's shifting and multiple identity and integrity, is like trying to swim in a new element, an "alien" element." ¹

The project evolved from my master’s thesis in architecture presented in October 2021 at the University of Arts Berlin. This work was supervised by Dagmar Pelger, Prof. Dr. Susanne Hauser, Prof. Dr. Miriam Oesterreich

----
1. Anzaldúa, Gloria. Borderlands / La Frontera: The New Mestiza. Aunt Lute Books 1984, S.9

Tracing Nepantla is a continuous research project about queerfeminist and migrant spaces in Berlin. This project evolved from my master thesis in architecture presented in October 2021.

With the understanding of migration as the leaving of one place and the crossing over into another, this work focuses on the space of tension that opens up between these two places, this in-between space. The writer and thinker and self-determined chicana and dyke, Gloria Anzaldúa, writes in her book Borderlands - La Frontera (1984) about what it means to live in an in-between state: between different identities and places. Anzaldúa uses the concept of Nepantla to describe this in-between state and continued to elaborate on it until her death.

Nepantla is an indigenous Nahuatl word and means “to stand in the middle”. It was first used by the Nauas and was further refined during the 16th century to describe the experience of Nahuatl-speaking people after colonization.

Anzaldúa's writing helped me to find a language of something I had identified already for a long time but could not describe until now. She helped me to understand my own in-between-ness as a queer, migrant person of color living in Berlin.

My aim was to go in search of Nepantla in Berlin. I wanted not only to find and identify the tangible and visible manifestations of it, but also to map them. Mapping consists in marking spaces, fixing them, giving them legitimacy. In this work, I face the seemingly contradictory challenge of capturing something that is in an in-between state.

Foto: masterpresentation installation - at UdK Berlin october 2021

Nepantla as a temporary and mobile space

Nepantla as a permanently visitable space

Nepantla as a structure of fluid and merging spaces

Nepantla as insular spaces in the city that respond directly to events elsewhere

Legend

To inhabit Nepantla can mean to live in a state of contradiction. According to Anzaldua, however, Nepantla is also a space where connections and transformations can take place. An important part of this work was to understand Nepantla as a transformative space. The intention of this work was to document and show the transformations happening in the spaces I inhabit. For this, I took a closer look at the practices that made this transformation possible.

During my thesis I have approached Nepantla through graphical analysis of spaces and moments of my everyday life that I identified as Nepantla. My goal was to approach the concept of Nepantla from a spatial perspective, trying to understand the parameters that create such spaces. Bringing on the same time Gloria Anzaldua's reflections into the predominantly white, eurocentric, colonial and heteronormative discourse of architecture. A series of maps, images and graphics emerge from this research, the maps give an overview of all the spaces that, in my understanding, build Nepantla in Berlin. The exact period of investigation was from the 8th of March 2020 until September 2021.