The hummingbird and the bricks: re-creation of ethnicity among Paraguayan workers in the construction industry of Buenos Aires

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article aims to analyze the experiences of Paraguayan immigrants who work in the construction industry of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It begins by exploring the main approaches linking ethnicity and construction labor, challenging the widely held view that job placement in construction sites allows upward mobility among immigrants. The author argues instead that the broader process of Paraguayan workers migration (from rural or semi-urban areas) and their subsequent job placement in the construction industry of Buenos Aires are part and expression of a single process of creation of a subaltern workforce that provides cheap labor to the Argentinian labor market. Arising from an ethnographic approach in different construction sites, this research shows how the predominantly rural origin of immigrants is considered by the employers as a ‘cultural legitimacy’ of their subordinate role in the production process. To demonstrate this, the author focuses on how Guarani language participates in the re-creation of interethnic boundaries in the sites. Based on data arising from participant-observation and in-depth interviewing, the author argues that certain ethnic characteristics that employers attribute to immigrant workers (particularly, from their use of an indigenous language) help explain the overexploitation of their labor and the hindering of their upward mobility.