Collective action, daily life and trajectories. The case of assemblies in Buenos Aires City (2001-2007)

Abstract

This article analyzes the assemblies that arose in the city of Buenos Aires amidst the increase of social mobilization in Argentina in 2001. I aim to complement studies that explore assemblies as a social movement.  Instead of analyzing incentives that mobilized individuals toward action, the impact on the political system and the context that might have facilitated collective action, I suggest delving into individuals and interaction processes, their practices, meanings and trajectories.  From  a relational anthropological approach,  I explore everyday practices, social relations  and  the daily interplay of individual's meanings. I analyze how people's trajectories became embodied in the collective sphere and interacted with everyday life, while the assembly experience reverberated in and redefined the lives of their participants.