Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

Introduction. This article provides inputs in the generation of knowledge about conflicts on natural resources in Costa Rica, continuing the field of research that has addressed the complex relationship between Costa Rican citizens and its Welfare State in the second half of the 20th century.Objective. To identify the main social and political events that were generated in the province of Heredia as a result of the administration of the aqueduct between Heredia Municipal Council and National Service of Aqueducts and Sewers in the mid-1970s.Method. It was used a qualitative methodology based on the analysis of primary sources, such as newspapers and Heredia Municipal Council´s minutes, between 1973 and 1975.Results. Between 1973 and 1975 one of the decade’s fiercest conflicts against the National Service of Aqueducts and Sewers occurred in Heredia, as a result of some causes: infrastructural (poor physical conditions in the aqueduct distribution network), administrative (technical inability of the Municipality to guarantee drinking water service), and political-social (opening of political opportunities within a cycle of protest against the SNAA and development of a framework for collective action).Conclusions. This case study shows local resistances samples in the struggle for natural resources control among various social actors and public institutions, such as National Service of Aqueducts and Sewers, in the midst of boom years of the Costa Rican Welfare State.

  Introduction: The international organisms such as the United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank base their discussion on poverty on capacities, skills, entitlements, agency and currently increased capacities. Objective: Therefore, analyzing poverty from the theoretical proposal of the needs of Agnes Heller allows to deepen with regard to the production and reproduction of massive impoverishment in capitalism. Method: In the midst of neoliberal policies related to an extended neoconservative political-cultural wave, we will reflect on the discourse of human development and Agnes Heller's theory of needs from a critical viewpoint, based on Marxism's theoretical-methodological approach. It's a critical perspective to how late-capitalist poverty care is supposed to work. Results: The proposals about poverty from the United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank seek to limit the wellness of people in poverty conditions, to biological minimums and citizenship thresholds (Álvarez 2005, 2008, 2011 and 2014). The above is understood, from the Agnes Heller theory of needs, as the way in which capitalism maintains millions of people in simple existential needs, making their development and emancipation impossible. It is assumed that they are neoliberal strategies to control poverty, and thus avoid any propitiated chaos caused by those who are bereft of all kinds of rights. [Continue reading in the article]

Introduction: The present research is based on the communes of the department of Cruz del Eje, within the arid region of the province of Córdoba (Argentina), in order to describe the different ways in which small units develop their production and social reproduction. Main Objective: To characterize the historical and current scenario in the communes of the department of Cruz del Eje within a regional economy of scarce development (such as that of the arid region of the province of Córdoba), in order to understand the socio-cultural practices of people with small productions and some of the public policies carried out in the territory. Method and technique: From a historical-anthropological approach and from a quali-quantitative triangulation (background review; statistical data and field work) the communal scenarios are studied in relation to the prevailing productive model and its impact on socio-territorial development. Results: The communal scenarios present conditions of vulnerability in the face of the advance of the agro-livestock frontier that is occurring in the region and such situation impacts in various ways the access to resources of those who work the small fruit and vegetable units. [Continue reading in the article]

  Introduction: In this work we focus on the constitution of the «Juegoteca», a manufacturing sector dedicated to care work in the Madygraf graphic (ex-Donnelley), located in the northern part of the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. This factory was recovered by its workers in a context of retirement of the employers, judicial presentation of the bankruptcy of the firm and dismissal of all its workers. Faced with this, the workers' collective launched a conflict that included the occupation of the workplace, the constitution of a cooperative and the continuity of production under worker management. The militancy and organization of women was key to its development and consolidation, and one of its results was the constitution of the Juegoteca, a factory space for the care of the children of factory workers. Main objective: The aim of our study is to reconstruct the genesis of this care space, as well as the various factors that converged in its development. [Continue reading in the article]

Introduction: In Villavicencio city in 2018, the population had the Informal economy as the income source for the middle of the population, one quarter of the population were in poverty, and in turn, one quarter were registered as victims of the armed conflict. In this condition, a huge group of people dedicated themselves to street sales as an alternative to unemployment and thus achieve their livelihood. Objective: This article aims to analyze the livelihoods of street vendors in Villavicencio to achieve the reproduction of their life in the face of national social policies in the period 2010-2018. Method and technique: The qualitative methodology was selected from the Latin American Configuration ism approach and the social policies that the national governments developed and that reached this population was observed. A case study was developed with in-depth interviews with a population of 12 people dedicated to street vendors in Villavicencio. Results: The livelihoods of this population were identified from the economic, financial, social dimensions, and concerning the State, making visible from their point of view, the interpretation of reality and the role of the national government in the face of its problems. [Continue reading in the article]

Introduction: The following article derived from the Project: Building learning tools with young population using gender and human rights training from the Institute of Women's Studies of the National University. The Project develops because it was necessary to promote equitable and egalitarian relationships, as well as the exercise of citizenship, which involves this population in active and responsible decision-making. Aim: Develop participatory training processes with young people from urban and rural areas that promote social relationships towards equality and equity from a gender and human rights approach. Methodology: A methodological proposal was built with the project’s participants, who are members of the Participatory Councils of Children and Teenagers from The National Child Welfare Agency of cities like Alajuelita and Sarapiquí. This proposal was developed in four stages: the identification of training interests and needs, the proposal’s construction and validation, its implementation, and the collection of experiences through a pedagogical module, where participatory methodologies are exposed in which teenagers performed as active agents in knowledge construction. Results: The project’s beneficiary population identify different inequalities faced by the teenagers in their daily lives as well as other forms of discrimination and violence, their manifestations, consequences, and its prevention. Issues such as sexuality, sexual and reproductive rights were addressed, emphasizing on the importance of having clear information for decision making. [Continue reading in the article]

Introduction The electoral volatility that has characterized the last electoral processes of the country has intensified with the ballots phenomenon. The instability in the party support has a clear concentration in the rural areas of the country. Objetive This article aims to present some findings regarding the reasons that explain the electoral volatility in the rural areas of the country based on the case study of the Cariari district, Pococí canton in Limon province in the presidential elections of 2014 and 2018. Method These results are derived from the investigation done to opt out for the Bachelor's degree in Geography at the Universidad de Costa Rica. This work incorporated territory as an explanatory political geographical concept and a methodology was used that complement the quantitative and qualitative approach. Results This article presents the main geographical and political characteristics of the territory, and later data derived from a study of sociopolitical opinion that allows the comprehension of the conditions that derived the electoral results of the 2014 and 2018 elections in the Cariari district. Conclusion Is identify the perception of the abandonment of the rural areas and the wish for political change as the base of the instability of the party support. And a scenario that facilitated, due a complex territorial dynamic in which the religious groups play a main role, the capitalization of support from the PRN.

Introduction: Changing universities into for profit corporations has taken them to outsourcing as a way to reduce expending Objectives: This article tries to understand the way in which outsourcing, as a «third space»or «middle space» is built by workers hired by Servicio de Limpieza a su Medida S.A (SELIME), at the University of Costa Rica (UCR). It also describes how these persons experience precarious labor, which is established by contracts, norms and practices between private and public spheres. Method and technique: Our research is based on participant observation, analysis of five minutes of sessions from the Consejo Universitario, nine in depth interviews with cleaning workers, and an interview with the personnel from the Oficina de Servicios Contratados. The interviews focus on the categories working conditions and labor environment. Another interview with the working team from the Vicerrectoría de Administración that is analyzing outsourcing at UCR focused on outsourcing policies and bidding processes at the University. Results: We analyze the way in which a bicephalous and ambiguous structure of precarious forms creates hierarches and affect the bodies of people dedicated to cleaning work as they occupy the bottom step of a normed but arbitrary and hostile organization, especially in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. [Continue reading in the article]

Introduction: In Latin America, a variety of policies and programs have been implemented that are responding to the demand for care of the dependent population, mainly children and the elderly, although not all at the same pace or with the same importance. Objective: Take a tour of child care policies and the elderly population in Mexico, identifying the presences and absences in each of these and critically reflect on social inequalities around care. Method: An extensive documentary review of both applied research, theoretical contributions and official sources on the subject was carried out. Likewise, legislative documents and institutional programs were consulted, carrying out an exercise of analysis of the information collected and subsequently, raising questions and objectives that gave rise to the discussion and conclusions on the subject addressed. Results: The State's response to the demand for childcare and the elderly population is insufficient, before which it is clarified that it is the families and especially the women who assume this social responsibility. In addition, there are more child care services, which is not the case in the case of care for the elderly, a field in which a significant gap can be seen, especially in long-term care. [Continue reading in the article]

Introduction: Recent research in the field of Social Sciences has shown the increase in the dynamics of drug retail in various neighborhood areas of the Greater Metropolitan Area. This scenario allows the investigation of various elements that occur within the dynamics linked to the sale and consumption of drugs, as well as the way in which these impact the communities in which they are located. Objective: Therefore, the current article aims to describe and explore two of the possible elements of the community-retail relationship: the banalization and the custom of violence, in a particular space that has been affected by the effects of drug retail for three decades: Rincón Grande in the Pavas district. Method: The methodology used is of a narrative nature, comprising a total of nine interviews and four face-to-face tours to different parts of the sector under study. Results:  As a result, there are various versions of neighbors in the area that allow us to reflect on the tension between custom and the banalization of violence as an effect of the repetition of drug violence, the violent constitution of the mortified community and alternatives to resignation. Conclusion: Based on these results, it is concluded that the narrative of the interviewees presents a fluctuation between forms of banalization of violence and versions that appeal to the otherness of the situation.