“Se pasan la pelota”. State disputes for internet infrastructure in Jujuy Puna (Argentina)

The global process of digitalizing daily life is dominated by private companies. However, in rural and indigenous contexts investing in infrastructure is not profitable, thus remaining in the hands of State or community actions. In the Puna of Jujuy, in northwest Argentina, in 2019 the provincial go...

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Autor principal: DI TULLIO, Martina
Formato: Artículo revista
Lenguaje:Español
Publicado: Escuela de Antropología - FHyA 2024
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Acceso en línea:https://revistadeantropologia.unr.edu.ar/index.php/revistadeantropologia/article/view/287
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Sumario:The global process of digitalizing daily life is dominated by private companies. However, in rural and indigenous contexts investing in infrastructure is not profitable, thus remaining in the hands of State or community actions. In the Puna of Jujuy, in northwest Argentina, in 2019 the provincial government carried out a project to install free public Wi-Fi networks in the squares of 19 towns. In one of them, Cusi Cusi (Santa Catalina, Jujuy), the weak signal brought multiple complications, and the community soon began demanding internet access in their homes, initiating a process of disputes between different government entities. This paper presents an ethnography of the process of installing residential internet in this town focusing on the political and bureaucratic framework involved and the perceptions of the inhabitants regarding this experience. It highlights the action of the State at its margins, whose fragmented and opposing practices led to the exasperation of a large part of the Cusi Cusi community, who ultimately chose to expel the State from their lives