Configuración de subjetividades políticas en el proceso de desarrollo urbano de la ciudad de Guayaquil durante el período 2008-2013: el caso de los betuneros y comerciantes informales ciegos

Abstract

Theoretically, the paper claims the need for a return of the subject that –it is argued- is absent of/displaced from the literature on political and social dynamics in the city of Guayaquil. This is the ground for exploring the configuration of political subjectivities in a case-study on two groups marginalized and underrepresented in the local instances of political power: blind street vendors and shoe shiners, in the context of the urban development of the city in the 2008-2013 period. The paper also criticizes the Cartesian subject as construed by Lacanian psychoanalysis and proposes an alternative understanding of the sociopolitical reality. Methodologically, it was used an ethnographic approach in order to address the primary analytical category, taking as a priority semi-structured and in-depth interviews. The research shows complex and erratic political subjectivities, characterized for having its own rationalities and senses due to multiple factors such as life stories and daily experiences.