Introduction

Mario's understanding of his own predicament is emblematic of precisely the processes we want to address in this chapter: a structural and social exclusion that has spatial dimensions. Mario comes from a large family who lived in a poor urban area of south Madrid, very much exposed to the diminishing industrial economies and increased urban poverty that rendered redundant much of the urban working class in Spanish cities (see Chapter 3). Here, however, he goes a step further in not only describing the social and structural exclusion of people like him, but also their spatial exclusion: the two different maps making reference to the physical separation between them reflective of the proximity of the capital city and Valdemingómez on the outskirts. The other interesting aspect of Mario's map is that he draws two circles that refer to two very different populations, neither of which come out of their circle – they never encounter each other, and thus their realities are detached from each other. In one are the people of the city, and in the other are people like him. Lastly, the action of erasing the circle where he had identified himself and the gitanos is also illustrative of attempts to dispose and eradicate people like him from public consciousness.