Indians, Blacks, and Morochos : Trajectories, Intersectionalities, and Class Frictions in a Neighborhood of Buenos Aires

In Indians, Blacks, and Morochos Menara Guizardi and Silvina Merenson address the relationships between stratification and social mobility in contemporary Argentina, using an ethnographic study on class relations in the San Telmo neighborhood of Buenos Aires. Relying on the Extended Case Method, the authors narrate the life history of Ramiro. A worker who has lived in the neighborhood for forty years, Ramiro strives to carve out a career through a network of micro and macro social relationships and conflicts that frame his daily life. Synthesizing the debates on class internationally and in Argentina, Guizardi and Merenson establish the study’s initial theoretical frameworks and describe the methodology used. They then reconstruct Ramiro’s life starting from his experiences in his home province of Tucumán, his migration to Buenos Aires, his settling in San Telmo and entering the work force, and the class conflicts that he experienced. The authors conclude by presenting a tentative anthropological conceptualization of class.

Menara Guizardi holds a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the Autonomous University of Madrid in Spain. She is a researcher of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Research in Argentina, and linked to the Institute of High Social Studies of the National University of San Martín. She is also an associate researcher at the University of Tarapacá in Chile.

Silvina Merenson holds a Ph.D. in Social Sciences from the Institute for Economic and Social Development and the National University of General Sarmiento in Argentina. She is a researcher at the National Council for Scientific and Technological Research and an associate professor at the Institute of High Social Studies of the National University of San Martín in Argentina.