Micro-Local Conflicts, Identities, and Political Participation: The Case of the Cuyaya Neighborhood in Jujuy Province

Abstract

The legal validity of mechanisms of political participation does not guarantee their appropriation by citizens or the existence of participatory practices. The municipality of San Salvador de Jujuy privileges the neighborhood as a space for the exercise of citizenship.

What has happened in those neighborhoods where participation in neighborhood associations had become a valid mechanism for intervention in the public sphere and for the satisfaction of needs? If they are recognized in the state sphere as privileged interlocutors for the design and implementation of public policies, and if there is a neighborhood-association tradition, how should the current situation of neighborhood society be interpreted? Which variables appear to be most significant in encouraging or moderating the real participation of residents in neighborhood institutions?

The research covered three neighborhoods and the period 1990–2005. Its objectives were to clarify, from an ethnographic perspective, how relations between residents and neighborhood institutions were configured, and to understand how the links with the municipal State have affected those institutions.

The results refer to the Cuyaya neighborhood and were gathered through semi-structured and in-depth interviews with residents and leaders, field observations, and bibliographic review. The neighborhood was mapped by identifying subgroups and selecting interviewees from among them who could account for its diversity.

The greatest challenge is the collective elaboration of public space, and state action may conspire against neighborhood associations.