The conquest of the suburbs: racial purification in Argentine gated communities

ABSTRACT

Rather than a radical new way of entangling space and society fashioned by late capitalism and neoliberalism, gated communities are the latest iteration of a long chain of power mechanisms devised to reproduce racial hierarchies and to defend “proper citizens” against internal and external enemies. Based on ethnographic data produced in Nordelta, one of Latin America’s largest gated communities, this article concentrates on a twofold process through which Nordelteños produce their social and physical spaces: first, on the relationships they establish with their surroundings, negating its natural and cultural dimensions, and second, on the different technologies they have deployed to exclude, monitor and sanction the nearby “improper” population. In a country that has never ceased to define its legitimate citizenry upon their own category of “whiteness”, this analysis contributes to understand how Argentine gated communities entangle elites, racism and segregation to produce a space of exception.

KEYWORDS:

• Gated communities
• racism
• elites
• segregation
• privilege
• whiteness

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Article based on PhD dissertation to obtain the degree of doctor in Social Anthropology, defended at Goldsmiths College on 27 May 2020 (Greene 2020).

2 Names and other personal references have been changed to preserve anonymity.

3 “[T]he restraints may operate not on a leisure activity itself, but on the mobility required to engage in the activity. For example, the routing patterns of some urban public transportation systems deliberately make it difficult for central-city residents to get to outlying leisure venues like shopping malls and beaches” (1998, 669).

4 Boca Juniors is Argentina's most popular football team. Its classic rival, River Plate, is commonly referred to as “The millionaires”.

5 Traditionally used in Argentina for European migrants who speak a foreign language (not Spaniards), but also for blondes and people with lighter skin.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica, Chile.