Abstract

CANELO, Brenda. The Spatial Production of We/Others Borders. A Study of Migrants, State Agents and Public Legitimacy in the City of Buenos Aires. Antipod. Rev. Antropol. Arqueol. [online]. 2018, n.31, pp.3-24. ISSN 1900-5407.  https://doi.org/10.7440/antipoda31.2018.01.

In this article, I propose to explore how borders between we/others are (re)created and disputed in the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina, through an ethnographic analysis of the production of space in the Cementerio de Flores, a public area of great importance for the “Andean” migrants who reside in this city. To carry out this task, I describe and analyze the contrasting uses and representations of this public space promoted by agents of the government of the city of Buenos Aires, on the one hand, and “Andean” migrants, who are mainly of Bolivian origin, on the other. Then I present the different ways in which State agents respond to what they consider an “inappropriate” way of using this public space by “Bolivians”. The paper seeks to develop the potential of the analysis of the production of space in order to investigate the historical (im)possibility of recognizing certain social sectors as legitimate participants in public metropolitan life, and to detect in an early way changes in the State treatment of the migratory issue. The materials I present and analyze are the result of research into newspapers and documents, as well as the fieldwork that I did for about a decade (2005-2013) in the Cementerio de Flores and in offices of the government of the City of Buenos Aires which are involved in these concerns.

Keywords : ethnography; migration; State; production of space; public legitimacy.

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