Drawing on ethnographic research in El Oasis, a highly precarious self-built settlement in Medellín, Colombia, this article examines the illegal practice of autoconstruction as a material expression of hope. It focuses on the multilayered, symbolic meaning of self-built housing, as it represents the pursuit of dignity, permanence, and agency—as opposed to poverty, uncertainty, and lack of agency—and an active and material form of hoping for a better future in the city. The state plays an ambiguous role in residents’ perspectives, who conceive of it, simultaneously, as a threat to and a guarantor of their future in the city. This ambiguity becomes materialized in the physical form of residents’ self-built housing, as residents either embrace or refrain from making improvements to their houses in response to shifting perceptions about the state’s intentions regarding the future of the settlement.

中文翻译：

---

麦德林的非法住房：自动建筑和希望的物质性

本文借鉴了对 El Oasis 的民族志研究，El Oasis 是哥伦比亚麦德林一个高度不稳定的自建定居点，将非法的汽车建造实践作为希望的物质表达进行了审视。它侧重于自建住房的多层次象征意义，因为它代表了对尊严、永久和能动性的追求——与贫困、不确定性和缺乏能动性相反——以及一种积极的物质形式，希望生活更美好城市的未来。国家在居民的观点中扮演着模棱两可的角色，他们同时将其视为对城市未来的威胁和保障。这种模糊性具体化在居民自建房的物理形态上，