Theorizing unemployment: toward an Argentine anthropology of work (original) (raw)
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Contesting Unemployment: the case of the cirujas in Buenos Aires
In Buenos Aires, Argentina the activity of informal waste collection (cirujeo) is a stigmatized activity that historically has not been seen as work. After the 2001 crisis ?product of a long itinerary of implementations of neoliberal policies initiated in the last civil military dictatorship- that led to Argentina to unusual rates of unemployment and poverty, thousands of peoples used to earn the living on the labor market resort to the cirujeo as a meanof earning a living. From ethnographic fieldwork conducted between2002 and 2009 withpeople dedicated to cirujeo in the City of Buenos Aires, in this chapter I show the complexities involved in being unemployed in Argentina and the implications that has for people of flesh and blood. The chapter deals with unemployment in Argentina and with how imaginaries of work are transformed. In doing so I also address the ways in which labor processes, ideologies, and justifications about access to legitimate ways of earning a living are produced and reproduced. Delving into the historical experience of a group of people that made a living from outside the labor market, leads to an understanding of how people of flesh and blood experience labor processes and shows how discourses of work (as a legitimate form of belonging) intersect to produce ideologies of both employment and unemployment. Centering on the experience of people of flesh and blood enables me to approach not only what unemployment means and how it is felt, but also why some people remain involved in that world.
For many years social studies classified the mobilization of the unemployed as a highly unlikely phenomenon; it was argued that the loss of jobs generates individual apathy, resignation and impotence. In the last twenty years, this conclusion has been the object of substantial revision. The reason is well known: the rebellion of the unemployed has become a reality in many countries, as it was the case in Argentina in recent years. This unexpected development had roots in the specific development of the country's economy and society in the post-World War Two era. In the context of the neoliberal reforms in the 1990s, and their aftermath, the emergence of this movement had tremendous consequences for social equality, even today. This paper presents the specific factors which gave rise to this movement, its peak, and subsequent decline. Throughout, the focus is on the consequence for inequality among workers and in society.
2008
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Dimensions of the Piquetero Experience: Organizations of the Unemployed in Argentina
The mid1990s in Argentina witnessed an explosion in the number of protest driven roadblocks ("cortes de ruta") in the country's interior. The roadblocks, whose protagonists included entire communities, produced the nowpopular label "piquetero" given to organizers of the "piquetes", or roadblocks. This label, besides being able to capture the attention of the media and the political system with its expressive force, represented an alternative for those who saw a denomination like "the unemployed" as intolerable. This marks the start of the story of the small, local organizations of unemployed individuals that would later, in most cases, comprise the nationallevel "federations". In order to understand the origin of the new processes of organization and mobilization, it is necessary to trace the transformations in the economic, social and political context in Argentina over the last thirty years. These transformations -corollaries to the application of neoliberal policies-completely reconfigured the foundations of Argentine society. This process, marked by increasing poverty levels, vulnerability and social exclusion, began with the last military dictatorship in the 1970s. It deepened between 1989 and 1991 when Carlos Menem came to power, a time in which openmarket policies and structural adjustment were vigorously pursued. Finally, the process accelerated after 1995 with the worsening of the economic recession and a drastic increase in unemployment levels.
Piqueteros after the Hype: Unemployed Movements in Argentina, 2008-2015
Kaese, Fynn & Wolff, Jonas 2016: Piqueteros after the Hype: Unemployed Movements in Argentina, 2008-2015, in: European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies 102, 47-68, http://doi.org/10.18352/erlacs.10112., 2016
The Argentine unemployed movement of the piqueteros was a key socio-political player in the early 2000s. Although public and academic attention paid to these piqueteros has decreased notably since 2010, they continue to be active. This article provides an empirical update to the existing research on Argentina’s unemployed movement by analysing how distinct piquetero organizations have adapted to evolving political and socioeconomic changes during the presidency of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (2008-2015). In drawing on social movement research, we suggest a number of mechanisms that can help to explain the continuing existence of the piqueteros. While a persistent focus on grassroots work has been identified as key to their existence, adaptation to the changing political and socioeconomic context has meant that core claims related to the very issue of (un-)employment, including the demand for dignified work, have largely been dropped from the political agenda of various piquetero organizations. Resumen: Los piqueteros después del auge: Los movimientos de desocupados en Argentina, 2008-2015 A comienzos del siglo el movimiento de desocupados de Argentina era un actor sociopolítico clave, pero desde 2010 ha decrecido notablemente el interés público y académico en los denominados piqueteros. Los piqueteros, sin embargo, siguen existiendo. Este artículo ofrece una actualización de la investigación existente sobre el movimiento de desocupados en Argentina. Se analiza cómo las distintas organizaciones piqueteras han adaptado a los cambios politicos y socioeconómicos durante la presidencia de Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (2008-2015). Basándonos en la investigación sobre movimientos sociales, sugerimos una serie de mecanismos que contribuyen a entender la persistencia de los piqueteros. Por un lado, un continuo enfoque en el trabajo territorial ha sido clave para tal persistencia. Por otro, la adaptación al nuevo contexto ha llevado a que reivindicaciones importantes relacionadas justamente al tema del (des-)empleo, como la demanda por un trabajo digno, hayan perdido relevancia en la agenda política de las distintas organizaciones piqueteras.
Unemployed Workers' Movements and the Territory of Social Reproduction
Unemployment soared in Argentina when the country fell into economic crisis in the late 1990s. Amid these dire circumstances, women took the lead in organizing resistance to the neoliberal policies that had caused the crisis, as well as in developing everyday alternative practices that would allow thousands of people to survive the crisis without support from the state. Out of these actions the unemployed workers' movements were formed, which became well-known for organizing large roadblocks on major highways across the country and for creating alternative economic practices. Based on two years of ethnographic fieldwork, this paper examines the role of women in the unemployed workers' movements of the urban periphery in Buenos Aires. It argues that one of the movement's main achievements was politicizing and making visible issues of social reproduction. The paper shows how organizing around social reproduction involves a new spatiality of struggle – privileging spaces of everyday life in the neighborhood – and a form of politics that prioritizes creating new social relations and increasing democratic control over everyday life. The paper goes on to explore the alternative economic practices and autonomous forms of social reproduction created by the unemployed workers' movements in the territories in which they operate.