Table Of Content“This urgently-needed volume reveals the power of a technically savvy, yet
conceptually sophisticated, anthropology to confront the social policy ques-
tion ofour time: Do the conditional cash transfers (CCTs) represent the ideal
paradigm for fighting social injustice in the twenty-first century? Both critical
and even-handed, these chapters reveal the faulty premises and unintended
consequences of such policies and open new vistas for progressive state
action.”
Aaron Ansell, Assistant professor of Anthropology, Virginia Tech, USA,
author of Zero Hunger: Political Culture and Anti-poverty Policy in
Northeast Brazil, University of North Carolina Press
“Cash transfers are widely accepted as effective palliatives in efforts to alle-
viate extreme poverty. But we know little about their impact on the indivi-
duals, households and communities that they serve. Fotta and Balen have
assembled a rich collection of ethnographic case studies which analyse the
micro-social dynamics of these programmes, revealing their effects on class,
gender and ethnic relations. The editors provide fresh critical perspectives on
the cash transfer phenomenon, challenging scholars and policymakers to
think carefully when weighing up the positives and negatives of these pro-
grammes. This is not only a most welcome contribution to the debate on
social protection but shows how essential social analysis is for the domain of
public policy.”
Maxine Molyneux, Professor of Sociology, University College London, UK,
editor of The Social and Political Potential of
Cash Transfers, Routledge
“Written by a select team of specialists from several disciplines, and [deploy-
ing] a comparative perspective, the book highlights the diverse meanings that
money from conditional cash transfer policies assumes in rural communities
across Latin America, and is thus fundamental reading for academics, stu-
dents, and policy makers.”
André Pires, Professor of Anthropology, Pontifical Catholic University of
Campinas, Brazil, author of Ruralidades em Transformação:
Agricultores, Caseiros e Moradores de Condomínio,
Annablume
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Money from the Government in Latin
America
It has been almost two decades since conditional cash transfer programs first
appeared on the agendas of multilateral agencies and politicians. Latin
America has often been used as a testing ground for these programs, which
consist of transfers of money to subsections of the population upon meeting
certain conditions, such as sending their children to school or having them
vaccinated. Money from the Government in Latin America takes a compara-
tive view of the effects of this regular transfer of money, which comes with
obligations, on rural communities.
Drawing on avarietyof datataken from different disciplinary perspectives,
these chapters help to build anunderstanding of the place of conditional cash
transfer programs in rural families and households, in individuals’ aspirations
and visions, in communities’ relationships to urban areas, and in the overall
characterof these rural societies.
With case studies from Chile, Mexico, Peru, Brazil and Colombia, this
book will interest scholars and researchers of Latin American anthropology,
sociology, development, economics and politics.
Maria Elisa Balen is Associate Researcher at the Grupo de Protección Social
in the Universidad Nacional de Colombia’s Centro de Investigaciones para el
Desarrollo, Colombia.
Martin Fotta is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Social and
Cultural Anthropologyof Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany.
Routledge Studies in Latin American Development
The series features innovative and original research on Latin American
development from scholars both within and outside of Latin America. It
particularlypromotescomparativeandinterdisciplinary researchtargetedata
global readership.
In terms of theory and method, rather than basing itself on any one ortho-
doxy, the series draws broadlyon the tool kit of the social sciences in general,
emphasizing comparison, the analysis of the structure and processes, and the
application of qualitative and quantitative methods.
Market Liberalizations and Emigration from Latin America
Jon Jonakin
Money from the Government in Latin America
Conditional Cash Transfer Programs and Rural Lives
Edited by Maria Elisa Balen and Martin Fotta
Money from the Government in
Latin America
Conditional Cash Transfer Programs and
Rural Lives
Edited by
Maria Elisa Balen and Martin Fotta
Firstpublished2019
byRoutledge
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©2019selectionandeditorialmatter,MariaElisaBalenandMartinFotta;
individualchapters,thecontributors
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withoutintenttoinfringe.
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Names:Balen,MariaElisa,editor.|Fotta,Martin,editor.
Title:MoneyfromthegovernmentinLatinAmerica:conditionalcash
transferprogramsandrurallives/editedbyMariaElisaBalenandMartin
Fotta.
Description:Abingdon,Oxon;NewYork,NY:Routledge,2019.|
Series:RoutledgestudiesinLatinAmericandevelopment|Includesindex.
Identifiers:LCCN2018033985(print)|LCCN2018041084(ebook)|ISBN
9781351173162(Master)|ISBN9781351173155(AdobeReader)|ISBN
9781351173148(ePub)|ISBN9781351173131(Mobipocketunencrypted)|
ISBN9780815387374(hardback)|ISBN9781351173162(ebook)
Subjects:LCSH:Ruralpoor–Governmentpolicy--LatinAmerica.|Income
maintenanceprograms--LatinAmerica.|Transferpayments--Latin
America.
Classification:LCCHC130.P6(ebook)|LCCHC130.P6M6452019(print)
|DDC362.5/82098091734--dc23
LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2018033985
ISBN:978-0-8153-8737-4(hbk)
ISBN:978-1-351-17316-2(ebk)
TypesetinTimesNewRoman
byTaylor&FrancisBooks
Contents
List of illustrations ix
List of contributors x
Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction: Rearticulations of rural lives through conditional cash
transfers 1
MARTINFOTTAANDMARIAELISABALEN
PARTI
Global CCT repertoires and their local translations 25
1 Gendering and engendering capital: Conditional cash transfers in
indigenous and rural households, Yucatan, Mexico 27
ANDRÉSDAPUEZ
2 Filling the belly and feeding the mind? Bolsa Família and the
building of children’s human capital in rural Amazonia 44
BARBARAA.PIPERATA
3 Peruvian mothers contending with conditional aid and its
selective inattention to the conditions of rural life 63
TARAPATRICIACOOKSON
PARTII
CCTs organizing community relations 79
4 Fragmented rural communities: The faenas of Prospera at the
interface of community cooperation and state dependency 81
CLÉMENTCRUCIFIXANDSOLÈNEMORVANT-ROUX
viii Contents
5 Empowering women? Conditional cash transfers in Mexico 97
BIRGITSCHMOOK,NORAHAENN,CLAUDIARADELAND
SANTANANAVARRO-OLMEDO
6 Money from above: Cash transfers, moral desert and
enfranchisement among Guaraní households of the Argentine
Chaco 114
AGUSTINDIZ
7 Dangerous desires: The affects (and affections) of cash transfer
programs among the Kalapalo from the Aihavillage (Upper
Xingu, Mato Grosso, Brazil) 130
MARINAPEREIRANOVO
PARTIII
Envisioning futures through CCTs 145
8 From surprise to anticipation: Money, state and the future of
social protection among displaced peasants in El Carmen de
Bolívar, Colombia 147
MARIAELISABALEN
9 Beyond cash, beyond conditional: Ingreso Ético Familiar and the
senses of poverty in a group of Mapuche women 162
MARJORIEMURRAYANDGABRIELACABAÑA
10 Saying no: Bolsa Família, self-employment, and the rejection of
jobs in northeastern Brazil 178
GREGORYDUFFMORTON
Afterword: From affirmative to transformative distributive politics 193
JONATHANDEVORE
Index 205
Illustrations
Figures
2.1 Research areaswhere the n = 7 rural communities are located 47
2.2 Typical open-air community schoolhouse 56
3.1 Avillage in Juntos’ area of intervention 67
7.1 Aiha Village, February 2015 132
Tables
2.1 Important sources of energy and protein by meal in children’s
diets (n = 52) 50
2.2 Children’s dietary intake and adequacy (n = 52) 54
