Necesidad: notes on the discourses of urban politics in the Ajusco foothills of Mexico City

Abstract

In this article I explore the ways in which participants in urban movements in the Ajusco foothills deploy the concept of necesidad (necessity) to describe social conditions and the possibilities of grassroots organizing. Participants in urban movements—which were organized by the urban poor to gain land tenure and urban services—articulate the concept of necesidad in their criticisms of state policy. Using Nancy Fraser's notions of “needs talk” as a starting point, I outline how necesidad is implicated both in the construction of social identities—including class and gender—and in the processes through which hierarchical social relations are criticized and reinforced. I conclude the article by explaining the relevance of the concept of necesidad for understanding Mexican urban culture and for more broadly constructing an anthropology of urban social movements. [social movements, urban social movements, urban anthropology, Mexico]