Keeping the sanctuary pure: Movements and frictions in an Argentine gated community

ABSTRACT

Located on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Nordelta is one of the largest gated communities in Latin America. To produce a purified sanctuary, the Nordelta compound has deployed fenced walls, guards, barriers, CCTV cameras, dogs, movement sensors and a dozen other power mechanisms aimed at controlling human and non-human movements and behaviors in and around the compound. Its three accesses gates are crossed every day by thousands of cars, buses, students, visitors, workers, animals and objects. Looking closely at the issues of exchange and circulation, this article addresses the following questions: which entities—humans, objects and information—can access the compound and how; which cannot; and which are prevented from leaving. Further, it analyses the normalization processes through which potentially harmful entities must go through to be accepted inside Nordelta. The analysis not only reviews these dispositives but also considers the tactics devised and deployed by propietarios, workers and visitors to avoid, re-appropriate and/or resist them.

KEYWORDS:

• Gated communities
• public transportation
• racism
• mobilities
• domestic work

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1. The Consorcio Bancalari-Nordelta was formed by six gated communities. Considering each one’s size and population, it was decided that Nordelta would pay and hold 55% of the society, Santa Bárbara 18.3%, Talar del Lago 17%, Talar del Lago II 6.6%, Laguna del Sol 9.6% and Pacheco Golf 3.5% (AVN, 2010).

2. Asociación Vecinal Nordelta (Nordelta’s Neighborhood Association) is Nordelta’s executive power, formally in charge of providing and administrating different services within the area, including security, building general maintenance, energy, water and waste management, infrastructure, sport facilities, pest control, outdoor green spaces, and handling community issues, among other things.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ricardo Greene

Ricardo Greene is a sociologist with an MSc in Urban Development and a PhD in Anthropology from Goldsmiths, University of London. He serves as director of Bifurcaciones, a journal and publisher specialized in urban cultural studies, and has overseen notable projects such as the Santiago International Documentary Film Festival (FIDOCS), Esto Es Talca (an urban chrono-photographic initiative), and CinEducación (an audiovisual participatory platform). Ricardo has produced films and published books and articles spanning urban culture, visual methods, elites, racism, daily life, gated communities and material culture. He is a founding member of the collective Wonderful Things and is currently an associate professor at Universidad San Sebastián (Puerto Montt, Chile).