El territorio, la comunidad y la autonomía: ¿discursos mitológicos en los programas sociales destinados a jóvenes "en riesgo"?

Abstract

Since 2000 in Argentina, social inclusion and crime prevention programs have been implemented for youth “at risk”, in which the community approach is distinctive. This article describes and analyses the senses and practices implied in such an approach, both from institutional agents and youth perspectives. Results are discussed through literature that deals with the relations between State, territory and community. Within that framework, the notion of “margin” (Das and Poole, 2004) is used to problematize the state practices. Finally, a new hypothesis emerged from the findings: the institutional definitions of territory and community as the centre of the risks that affect young people, in articulation with the demand for youth autonomy to deal with them, could generate a mythological discourse (Haney, 2010) that would cause more disempowerment than emancipation. The analysed data come from qualitative research developed between 2008 and 2018. Participant observation, in-depth interviews and focus groups have been the main techniques. The empirical references are social inclusion and crime prevention programs implemented in popular neighborhoods of the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires.