Del océano al verso. Las caracolas de Pablo Neruda

creation, teaching and extension, as well as its cultural, social and political connotations. Thus, on several occasions, we have stopped to think about the cultural assets we possess and why we safekeep them. These are questions without a single answer, questions that trigger a plurality of voices from the many disciplines and points of view present in our university’s community. At the same time, asking ourselves about our repositories allows us to identify absences, vacuums and silences. There are lost artefacts in our bicentennial history, losses caused by earthquakes, relocations, or due to the everyday life of an institution as complex as ours. Likewise, we recognize the vacuum, still felt, of the objects taken from our repositories during the years of the dictatorship. We can also distinguish the silences produced by the artworks, documents, photographs, memories and stories that were not preserved, because their value and relevance was not recognized in the context of their production. This iswhy, despite itswealth, our repositories andcollections contain incomplete stories. It’s precisely this fragmentary character which motivates us to investigate and question —especially— the vacuums, absences and silences. Searching for these self imposed limits and expanding our boundaries is another way of advancing in matters of gender and social equality, of promoting intercultural relations, and deepening the pluralism that should be at the heart of a democratic society. Therefore, to reflect on our heritage is a double gesture addressing the university as well as the country and our continent. This is because we are the safekeepers of cultural assets that 20 universidad de chile