Migrant work in times of neoliberalism. The case of ethnic labor markets in the urban context of the Bolivian community in Buenos Aires

Abstract

This article focuses on the phenomenon of integration of migrant network to the subordinate trade circuits and the global production. Based on the experience of labour incorporation by some Bolivian residents in Buenos Aires’ markets and workshops, we will analyse some elements that are constitutive of popular work in the neoliberalism. For doing so we will emphasize the role of ethnic and cultural identities in the configuration od ethnics markets (a phenomenon shared by current migrant experiences in Latin America). We will show up the complex syncretism produced between collective forms of work and the neoliberalist imperative of accumulation that are experimented by migrant communities, together with other popular segments. The testimonies of Bolivian workers, traders and journalists, living in Buenos Aires, will be our primary source of information. Those testimonies have been compiled throughout semi structured interviews, conducted during a PHD research stay in Argentina, from February to July 2017.