Abstract

TAMAGNINI, María Lucía. Red tape and waits: reflections on ethnographic fieldwork in a municipal administration (Córdoba, Argentina). Rev. Mus. Antropol. [online]. 2023, vol.16, n.2, pp.275-288.  Epub Aug 31, 2023. ISSN 1852-060X.  http://dx.doi.org/10.31048/1852.4826.v16.n2.40123.

The following article presents a reflection on the ethnographic study of bureaucratic practices in state administrations. To this end, features part of an ethnographic research into Cordoba City’s municipal nightlife regulations conducted between 2011 an 2015 (Córdoba, Argentina).That work was intended to investigate municipal state formation process deriving out of an ethnography of exercises of power to order the night. This article recovers some ethnographic situations that (were) configured (in) that research to elaborate situated knowledges on the modalities of being there, the challenge of ethnographing power practices and the production of socio anthropological knowledge about the process of state formation. The purpose is to contribute to the ethnographic practice in relation to instances of power, the positions that we as ethnographers can occupy during fieldwork and the possible ways of accompanying the daily life of a local administration in order to comprehend the reproduction of social hierarchies and how the state is continuously formed.

Keywords : Fieldwork; Ethnograpyh; Municipal State; Bureaucratic Practices; Waiting.

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