When Life Becomes a Burden at the Urban Margins of Buenos Aires

Abstract

Based on ethnographic research carried out in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires, in this article, I analyze the logic of the burden for workers of segregated populations who live on the urban margins under the neoliberal regime. Unlike other languages of afflictions, the language of the logic of the burden resists being subdued completely to psy technologies. In this article, I argue that this challenges how development programs in Buenos Aires metropolitan areas have caused afflictions to people who live in contexts of urban poverty and seek their well-being, led by promises to reach it through work.