De espacio heterológico a posición estratégica: El papel político de la cocina pampina en la minería del nitrato chileno. El caso de "La huelga de las cocinas apagadas" (1918-1946)

The kitchen in the saltpeter (nitrate) pampa, as a social and work space, despite its significance in the reproduction of the labor force, was marginalized and jeopardized during the whole nitrate expansion cycle, until in 1941 when the strike of the "closed kitchens" transformed the kitchen into a visible and strategic place. In this article we present a historic recount of the evolution in the nitrate industry, women's social movements and its connections with two opposed spaces: the pulpería (grocery store) and the kitchen, the latter was part of the worker's rooms. While the pulpería was a public space for demands and social conflicts, the kitchen was a private, calm and silent space. It is argued that the kitchen was a heterotopic space, as in a different space, following Michel Foucault's thinking. It also was a heterological space, and supposedly unproductive in the nitrate industry.