Two-year-old javier tries to pick up a ball he sees on a computer screen. javier is demonstrating a

journal article

PATIENTS OF THE STATE: An Ethnographic Account of Poor People’s Waiting

Latin American Research Review

Vol. 46, No. 1 (2011)

, pp. 5-29 (25 pages)

Published By: The Latin American Studies Association

https://www.jstor.org/stable/41261368

Abstract

Drawing on six months of ethnographic fieldwork in the main welfare office of the city of Buenos Aires, this article dissects poor people's lived experiences of waiting. The article examines the welfare office as a site of intense sociability amidst pervasive uncertainty. Poor people's waiting experiences persuade the destitute of the need to be patient, thus conveying the implicit state request to be compliant clients. An analysis of the sociocultural dynamics of waiting helps us understand how (and why) welfare clients become not citizens but patients of the state. Basado en seis meses de trabajo etnográfico en la sala de espera del Ministerio de Desarrollo Social de la ciudad de Buenos Aires, este trabajo examina las experiencias que los pobres urbanos tienen de la espera. El artículo estudia la sala de espera como un sitio de intensa sociabilidad en medio de una generalizada incertidumbre. Las experiencias de la espera convencen a los destituidos que tienen que ser pacientes, transmitiendo—de manera implícita—un mensaje estatal: tienen que ser beneficiarios sumisos. Un análisis de las dinámicas socioculturales de la espera nos ayuda a entender cómo (y porqué) los beneficiarios de los programas de asistencia se convierten no en ciudadanos sino en pacientes del estado.

Journal Information

The Latin American Research Review (LARR) publishes original research in Latin American, Caribbean, and Latina/Latino studies. Founded in 1965, LARR publishes articles in the humanities and social sciences, covering the fields of anthropology, economics, history, literature and cultural studies, political science, and sociology. It is the official scholarly journal of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA). LARR has an open-access policy since 2017.

Publisher Information

The Latin American Studies Association (LASA) is the largest professional Association in the world for individuals and institutions engaged in the study of Latin America. With over 12,000 members, half of whom reside outside the United States, LASA is the one Association that brings together experts on Latin America from all disciplines and diverse occupational endeavors, across the globe.

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