Dynamics of violent exchanges: Reflections on a conflict between two neighborhoods of Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina

Este artículo se propone comprender el ataque de habitantes de un barrio popular hacia vecinos de un asentamiento informal en la ciudad de Comodoro Rivadavia, desencadenado a partir del asesinato de una niña de 11 años en 2013. Examinaremos el origen de las relaciones conflictivas entre los pobladores; las razones de la segregación material y simbólica de uno de los barrios hacia otro; los procesos de organización comunitaria defensivos de los vecinos atacados y, específicamente, el rol particular de la violencia colectiva dentro de los grupos atacantes. Sostenemos que las agresiones se enmarcan en una dinámica de intercambios violentos que define las relaciones entre habitantes de barrios populares.

Palabras-clave
Violencia colectiva; Barrios populares; Politicidad popular.

Title: Dynamics of violent exchanges: Reflections on a conflict between two neighborhoodsof Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina

This article aims to understand the attack of the habitants of a working-class neighbourhood to the residents of a shantytown in the city of Comodoro Rivadavia, triggered by the murder of an 11-year-old girl in 2013. We will examine the origin of the relations conflicting among residents; the reasons for the material and symbolic segregation of one of the neighborhoods towards another; the processes of defensive community organization of the neighbors attacked and, specifically, the particular role of collective violence within the attacking groups. We argue that the aggressions are framed in a dynamic of violent exchanges that defines the relations between the inhabitants of the working class neighbourhoods.

Keywords
Collective violence; Working-class neighbourhoods; Popular politicity.

Dinámica de los intercambios violentos: Reflexiones a partir de un conflicto entre dos barrios de Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina