Abstract

BLANCO ESMORIS, María Florencia. Inhabiting the magic of order. Listening practices, objects and alternative forms of domestic space production among the middle classes in the Municipality of Morón (Buenos Aires, Argentina). Soc. relig. [online]. 2022, vol.32, n.60, pp.5-5. ISSN 0326-9795.

In this paper I aim to understand the meanings and practices involved in the everyday processing of dwelling through new modes of production of domestic space and management of objects for urban middle classes. Based on an ethnography conducted between 2015-2019, I mobilize the experience of Luisa, a dentist resident of Morón Sur (Province of Buenos Aires) who started with Marie Kondo's audiobooks to organize her environments through the discarding of objects. In this line, I make legible the complexities of what I call listening-arranging-discarding. A triad that summons and articulates themes on dwelling, objects and belief systems present in the ways of materially and spiritually processing family changes while uncertain contexts. Magical meanings attributed to discarding are disseminated in audiobooks as a guide to reach happiness or well-being. In effect, discarding emerges as a normalized way of expressing degrees of acceptance of both structural limitations in access to consumer goods and the complications of materially maintaining domestic spaces.

Keywords : dwelling; objects; discard; spirituality; middle classes.