Informal Collection in Buenos Aires. Behind and Beyond Crises¹

Recoleção Informal em Buenos Aires. Mias aqui e além das crises

Abstract

This article focuses on the creation process of a new circuit of commerce (understood as a space where moralities, money, and people circulate) related to cirujeo between 2002 and 2011. While the informal gathering is as old as Buenos Aires itself, in 2002, the agenda of two crises (economic and environmental) combined to position cirujeo not only as a survival activity but also as an activity linked to the environment. The article argues that although the crises framed the new circuit that disrupted gender relations, the groups within the collectors, and how they constructed the activity as a legitimate way of making a living, the danger of presenting cirujeo only as an epiphenomenon of the crisis is raised. To this end, the text gives an account of the different sedimentations that have produced how collecting is done today.

Key words:
Economy; crisis; informal collection; Buenos Aires; making a living