@article{ART003178203},
author={Kyeongeun Park},
title={A Pluriverse Forged by Waste and Wasted Humans: Focusing on Argentina’s Cartoneros},
journal={Cross-Cultural Studies},
issn={1598-0685},
year={2025},
volume={74},
pages={75-110},
doi={10.21049/ccs.2025.74..75}
TY - JOUR
AU - Kyeongeun Park
TI - A Pluriverse Forged by Waste and Wasted Humans: Focusing on Argentina’s Cartoneros
JO - Cross-Cultural Studies
PY - 2025
VL - 74
IS - null
PB - Center for Cross Culture Studies
SP - 75
EP - 110
SN - 1598-0685
AB - This study reconceptualizes waste not merely as discarded material, but as an active agent in reconfiguring human and non-human relationships, focusing on cartoneros in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Following the early 2000s economic crisis, cartoneros emerged as waste collectors and recyclers, transforming discarded materials into economic resources while challenging social stigmas and engendering community solidarity. Drawing on New Materialism, Decolonial Theory, and Urban Political Ecology, this research examines political, economic, and cultural dimensions of the cartoneros phenomenon by centering waste as an agent of change. Politically, waste reshapes urban governance and environmental policies by generating new infrastructures and informal economies. Economically, it enables cooperative networks that can resist neoliberal labor exclusions. Culturally, it circulates through practices such as the Cartonera publishing movement, which becomes a medium of artistic and social expression. Through these intertwined processes, cartoneros leverage waste to construct a pluriverse, fostering ecological relations and new forms of solidarity that reshape urban life. By analyzing cartoneros’ collective practices, this study underscores the critical role of waste in sustainable social transformation, challenging exclusionary epistemologies and reimagining socio-material agency.
KW - Waste;Cartoneros;Pluriverse;Argentina;New Materialism;Urban Political Ecology
DO - 10.21049/ccs.2025.74..75
ER -
Kyeongeun Park. (2025). A Pluriverse Forged by Waste and Wasted Humans: Focusing on Argentina’s Cartoneros. Cross-Cultural Studies, 74, 75-110.
Kyeongeun Park. 2025, "A Pluriverse Forged by Waste and Wasted Humans: Focusing on Argentina’s Cartoneros", Cross-Cultural Studies, vol.74, pp.75-110. Available from: doi:10.21049/ccs.2025.74..75
Kyeongeun Park "A Pluriverse Forged by Waste and Wasted Humans: Focusing on Argentina’s Cartoneros" Cross-Cultural Studies 74 pp.75-110 (2025) : 75.
Kyeongeun Park. A Pluriverse Forged by Waste and Wasted Humans: Focusing on Argentina’s Cartoneros. 2025; 74 75-110. Available from: doi:10.21049/ccs.2025.74..75
Kyeongeun Park. "A Pluriverse Forged by Waste and Wasted Humans: Focusing on Argentina’s Cartoneros" Cross-Cultural Studies 74(2025) : 75-110.doi: 10.21049/ccs.2025.74..75
Kyeongeun Park. A Pluriverse Forged by Waste and Wasted Humans: Focusing on Argentina’s Cartoneros. Cross-Cultural Studies, 74, 75-110. doi: 10.21049/ccs.2025.74..75
Kyeongeun Park. A Pluriverse Forged by Waste and Wasted Humans: Focusing on Argentina’s Cartoneros. Cross-Cultural Studies. 2025; 74 75-110. doi: 10.21049/ccs.2025.74..75
Kyeongeun Park. A Pluriverse Forged by Waste and Wasted Humans: Focusing on Argentina’s Cartoneros. 2025; 74 75-110. Available from: doi:10.21049/ccs.2025.74..75
Kyeongeun Park. "A Pluriverse Forged by Waste and Wasted Humans: Focusing on Argentina’s Cartoneros" Cross-Cultural Studies 74(2025) : 75-110.doi: 10.21049/ccs.2025.74..75
