Cartoneros en Buenos Aires: nuevas modalidades de encuentro

Abstract

This article explores transformations occurred in the past fifteen years in the city of Buenos Aires, taking the case of cirujeo (informal waste collection). In this ethnographic, statistical and documentary analysis undertaken the main objective is to understand the way cartoneros or garbage pickers appropriate the city’s central urban space and deal with the social stereotypes that stigmatize them. The author describes the forms and strategies they devise to cope and coexist with social difference.