Ex-centric citizenship: Bolivian migration and violence in Argentina

Abstract

In response to the idea of citizenship as a way of regulating the population and guaranteeing state supremacy, and the suggestion that migrants develop political subjectivity autonomously from the state, this article focuses on the heterogeneous production of citizenship that realizes Bolivian migrants in Argentina. The main argument is that the ways in which these migrants experienced citizenship can exceed standard political practices creating ex-centric ways of been citizen. Drawing on violent disputes over land tenure and insecurity on the outskirts of La Plata, Argentina, the article examines the insight such incidents provide into the place of Bolivian migrants in the context of reception. In this analysis, the main hypothesis is that in cases such as these, Bolivians act violently when and because they feel like citizens. In other words, the experience of migrants is indicative of the openness of citizen subjectivation and its complex relationship with the state.