Arantxa Figueroa
Supervisor: Dr. Felipe Hernandez
Email: af839@cam.ac.uk
Biography
Arantxa holds an Architecture Degree and a Master in Cultural Heritage from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, along with several specialisation courses in heritage conservation from Universidade do Minho and the Getty Conservation Institute. Her main interests are related to the preservation of national heritage, with a strong emphasis on contemporary theories about violence in space, as well as the spatial aspects of difficult heritage. She has been part of several teaching and research teams related to cultural heritage, and as of October 2023, she is working towards her PhD with support from Wolfson College and the Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Cambridge.
Research
Currently, she is a PhD student at the Centre for Latin American Studies, studying the impact of state terrorism in Latin American territories, with a specific focus on buildings and sites used for political repression during the Chilean dictatorship in the 1970s and possible alternatives to their conservation and management as difficult heritage sites, while diving into the contestation of hegemonic narratives regarding these places in postdictatorial Chile.
Research Interests
- Political Repression
- Spatial Violence
- Critical Heritage Studies
- Post-preservation
- Heritage Conservation
- Memory Studies
- Necropolitics
Conference Papers
- “Territorial traces of state terrorism in Chile. Clandestine centres and heritage conservation practices”. PILAS Annual Conference. Universiteit van Amsterdam, July 2024.
- “Violence and Heritage. Post-preservation in Chilean sites of memory”. AMPS London Heritages Conference. University of Greenwich, June 2025.
Teaching and supervision
Course Supervisor
- Introduction to History and Theory of Architecture
- Topic D. Theories of 20th Century Architecture
- Topic E. Gardens and Landscapes
- Topic F. Uncharted Territories on Architectural Theories
Lecturer
- UTAT 2025. Lecture 4: Architecture and Political Violence
