Patients of the State: An Ethnographic Account of Poor People's Waiting

Unpacking State Practices in City-Making,in Conversations with Ananya Roy

“…He writes about 'the gray zone' to describe the obscure relations linking state officials and its police apparatus, social movements and criminal elements, in violent public interventions (Auyero, 2007). But he does not further unpack state practices, nor does he go 'beyond the counter' when he analyses the politics of waiting (Auyero, 2010a), or beyond the patron when he unpacks the dynamics of clientelism (Auyero, 1999). The state he invokes remains a black box, one of 'visible fists, clandestine kicks and invisible elbows' (Auyero, 2010b).…”

Working Class Subjectivities and Neoliberalisation in Kyrgyzstan: Developing Alternative Moral Selves

“…They often have to wait up to several days at multiple state offices to apply for legal documents, to receive medical treatment and to register for scarce childcare and housing provisions. Far from being a rational and fair system, waiting halls are markers of people's power, wealth and selfworth (see also Auyero 2011). State officials belittle those waiting, who cannot pay a bribe to access state goods and services faster.…”

“…I was pushed further back by those who paid money to get ahead of me.' State institutions discipline working class actors to operate in the new neoliberalising order through innumerable acts of waiting that make them feel worthless to claim their rights (see also Auyero 2011). At waiting halls for state benefits, many working class people experience inequality and injustice, in addition to those generated by the market.…”

The State as a Battlefield

“…By making people wait, by keeping people in the dark, and by suddenly making decisions taking people by surprise, state institutions demonstrate their power (Auyero 2011). However, to paraphrase Gupta (1995:229), it is an analytical question when and under which conditions the state does appear as a cohesive and unitary whole.…”