Poverty and Representation. Gated Communities and Shanty Towns in Buenos Aires after 2001

Abstract

The Neoliberal Policies implemented by Carlos Saúl Menem (1989-1999) during his presidency were the economical base that leads to the fall of Fernando de la Rúa' s government (1999-2001) in the so called "Argentinazo" (2001), the popular expression used to name people 's reaction to the social and economic decomposition. Although the perception of the crisis was oriented by a financia! view related to the fail of the free market policy, the urban changes that modified Buenos Aires city were the true setting for the emergence of a new public space. Through the literary representation of the crisis, this essay examines the permeability of the borders between wealth and poverty and its urban disposition within the socio-cultural limits of a city built for "business" and the umbilical cord of the slum that nourished it.