The B-side of the pandemic: eviction and exclusion in urban areas

Abstract

This article aims to make visible, in the public-social space, the eviction process experienced and suffered by five families from a poor neighborhood in the city of Clodomira in the province of Santiago del Estero —Argentina—, in a context of ASPO —social isolation, preventive and compulsory—. At the same time, it offers some analyses from Social Work that allow us to problematize this violation of citizens' rights within the framework of broader social processes. In a national scenario crossed by conflicts over access to land and the problem of evictions, which have become more acute in the last period, represent one of the manifestations of the contemporary social question. Recognizing the relevance of the ethnographic approach and the perspective of the actor, the voices of the subjects are recovered through interviews with members of two evicted families, emphasizing the statements and verbalizations that emerge in the encounter. Based on these stories and with the intention of elucidating the relationships of the operating forces, some theoretical mediations are carried out taking as analytical axes the capitalist state, the territory, the struggles to belong to the urban social space, the community organization as a strategy for the defense of rights and the role of Social Work in these processes.