Abstract

PONCE ARANCIBIA, Natalia Fernanda. Collective Action and Reconstruction of the Housing Stock in Mexico City: Approaches Stemming from the Earthquake of September 19, 2017. Antipod. Rev. Antropol. Arqueol. [online]. 2021, n.45, pp.151-175.  Epub Nov 22, 2021. ISSN 1900-5407.  https://doi.org/10.7440/antipoda45.2021.07.

The withdrawal of collective processes and the strengthening of the individual sphere correspond to a phenomenon that, at territorial level, is evident in multi-family housing buildings where private and common property coexist. This dichotomous condition determines a constant tension among residents. The September 19, 2017 earthquake in Mexico City marked a turning point in the individualistic dynamics that prevailed within these spaces, leading to the articulation of a collective lawsuit that stressed the state response to care for those affected. In this context, this article proposes a review of the concept of collective action and an analysis of its impact on the modification of institutional structures during reconstruction in Mexico City since the 2017 earthquake. A first stage consisted in the review of hemerographic material and official documents issued between September 2017 and July 2018. Following this, between August 2018 and October 2019, the researcher held in-depth interviews with residents of the Multifamiliar Tlalpan and attended three informative assemblies, as a non-participant observer. The loss of housing constitutes a crisis scenario, but it also strengthens a common identity among those who reside in a given housing context. This identity has the potential to articulate processes of collective action that may stress conventional institutional responses, enabling counter-hegemonic approaches to the benefit of those affected. Based on the observation of a specific urban scalar unit, such as multifamily housing, the article provides a territorialized reading of the new forms of collective articulation that emerge in crisis scenarios; a reading that, based on empirical evidence, is intended to strengthen the theoretical discussion on collective action.

Keywords : Collective action; disasters; institutions; multifamily housing buildings; vulnerability..

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