Orphans of the State: Conceptualizing Citizenship, Space, and Kinship in Bolivian Municipal Politics

Abstract


In an urban barrio on the outskirts of a Bolivian city, the municipal government engages in a variety of techniques to regulate and manage the illegal settlers and the lands they occupy on the urban periphery. These forms of governmentality are underscored by a paternalist discourse that enjoins barrio residents to embrace urban inclusion as part of a generalized urban Bolivian family. Barrio residents desire such inclusion as a path to citizenship and the socioeconomic rights that such belonging entails, but are skeptical of paternalist rhetoric and the claims of Bolivian politicians to be 'good fathers' to their barrio children. This article examines the engagement between municipal leaders and barrio residents in the struggle to subject one urban neighborhood to state authority.



Daniel M. Goldstein | source: Cultural Dynamics 387 |
Categories: Care


Other articles

Vulnerability of street-involved children and youth in semi-rural Kenya: does orphan status matter?

The vulnerability of street-involved children and youth (SICY) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to adverse childhood events is…

Read more

The role of culture in psychosocial development of orphans and vulnerable children

Orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) remain a pressing challenge for many countries in sub-Saharan Africa due to HIV/AIDS.…

Read more

Who will cry for orphans? A review article on orphans’ mental health

Background: Being an orphan is a miserable feeling for children when they don’t have their family with them and to survive…

Read more

Nutrition Status and associated Morbidity Risk Factors among Children in Orphanages and Non Orphanage Children in selected Primary Schools within Dagoretti Division, Nairobi, Kenya (2009)

Most of the nutritional surveys that have been carried out in Kenya have concentrated on children aged five years and below…

Read more