Abstract: This article offers a relational account of the emergence, development, and impact of a social movement against urban fracking in Denton, Texas. It highlights the role played by the interactions between grassroots activism, local officials, and other stakeholders in the political construction of shared understandings of environmental risk. Drawing upon scholarship on risk perceptions and on social movement outcomes, the article argues that as a result of relationships of conflict and cooperation between activists, officials, residents, and oil and gas industry representatives, a field of opinion about the potential (negative) impacts of fracking emerged. It shows that grassroots, face-to-face, joint action played a key role in the campaign to ban fracking. Localized collective action should be at the front and center of social scientific examinations of shared understandings of environmental danger.

Resumen: Este artículo ofrece un relato relacional del surgimiento, desarrollo e impacto de un movimiento social en contra del fracking urbano en Denton, Texas. Destacamos el rol que juegan las interacciones entre los activistas de base, los funcionarios locales y otros interlocutores en la construcción política de un entendimiento común del riesgo ambiental. Basándonos en la literatura sobre percepciones de riesgo y los efectos de los movimientos sociales, argumentamos, como resultado de las relaciones de conflicto y cooperación entre activistas, funcionarios, residentes y representantes de la industria petrolera, que un espectro de opiniones emergió sobre los impactos posiblemente negativos del fracking. En particular, mostramos que la acción de base comunitaria fue fundamental para que la campaña lograra prohibir el fracking. La acción colectiva local debe tener un papel protagónico en las investigaciones científicas del entendimiento comunitario del peligro ambiental.

RESUMEN El texto pasa revista a la extensa y productiva trayectoria del autor en el difícil oficio de la etnografía política. Mediante un relato reflexivo de su propia experiencia etnográfica, se destaca la relevancia y complejidad del oficio, razón por la que nos remite a los hallazgos, los obstáculos, problemas, limitaciones y proyecciones del ejercicio etnográfico en lo político. El escrito se divide en cinco apartados, correspondientes a los temas de investigación abordados en su trayectoria etnográfica, en los que se revisan la relación y utilidad de la etnografía política en el estudio de las redes clientelares, de la acción colectiva, el estudio de la zona gris de la política, el sufrimiento ambiental y el tema de la espera como una expresión de las relaciones de dominación social. El escrito cierra con una invitación y advertencia en torno al oficio etnográfico.

ABSTRACT The text reviews the author's extensive and productive career in the difficult craft of political ethnography. Through a reflective account of his own ethnographic experience, he highlights the importance and complexity of the craft; and therefore refers us to the findings, obstacles, problems, limitations and projections of ethnographic practice in politics. The document is divided into five sections, each corresponding to the research topics addressed by the author's ethnographic career. These review the relation and usefulness of political ethnography in the study of clientele networks, collective action, and in the study of the gray area of politics, environmental suffering, and the topic of waiting as an expression of the relations of social domination. The document closes with an invitation and a warning in regard to the craft of ethnography.

On the bases of a series of analytical exams of three rounds of ethnographic field-work in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and with a micro-sociological approach of empirical analysis, this article sets out to reorient the study of clienteles' politics towards its every day nature, and recognize the relevant role played by the close links mediating agents keep with their closest and most reliable followers- Thus it aims to contribute to better understand and explain the practical features of clientelist domination. Against what's commonly asserted, this paper maintains clientelist politics takes place in daily life's routine (and not only in the context of campaigns and elections), and that the behaviour of the most loyal clients must not be understood nor explained as a product of rational action or normative conducts, but as resultant of clientelist habits, that is, a set of cognitive and affective political dispositions, produced by repeated interactions that take place within the inner circles of the followers of the mediating agents.

Con base en una serie de revisiones analíticas de tres rondas de trabajo de campo etnográfico que se realizaron en Buenos Aires, Argentina, y un enfoque microsociológico de análisis empírico, este artículo se propone reorientar el estudio de la política clientelar hacia su carácter cotidiano y reconocer el importante papel que desempeñan los estrechos lazos que mantienen los agentes mediadores con sus seguidores más cercanos y confiables, con el fin de comprender y explicar mejor los rasgos prácticos del dominio clientelista. En contra de lo que comúnmente se afirma, este trabajo sostiene que la política clientelar tiene lugar en la rutina de la vida diaria (no solo cuando hay campañas y elecciones) y que el comportamiento de los clientes más leales no debe entenderse y explicarse como producto de la acción racional ni de conductas normativas, sino como resultado de hábitos clientelares, es decir, un conjunto de disposiciones políticas de tipo cognitivo y afectivo, que se producen con las interacciones repetidas que ocurren en el seno de los círculos internos de los seguidores de los agentes mediadores.

O artigo analisa a imbricação entre a estrutura do Partido Justicionalista (peronista) e as políticas assistenciais estatais em comunidades pobres da província de Buenos Aires, na época governada por Eduardo Duhalde. Os agentes partidários se colocam na posição de mediadores, que, evitando uma barganha expressa e adotando um discurso de solidariedade, garantem apoio político graças à capacidade de fazer com que carências imediatas sejam supridas. No processo, propõem e buscam disseminar uma determinada forma de resolução de problemas.

The article examines the entangled relations between the structure of Argentina's Justicionalist (Peronist) Party and state welfare policies in poor communities in the province of Buenos Aires, then governed by Eduardo Duhalde. Party agents put themselves in the position of mediators who, avoiding an open bargain and adopting a solidarity-based discourse, guarantee political support thanks to their ability to meet basic needs. In the process, they propose and seek certain ways to solve problems.

Ao refletir sobre uma década e meia de trabalho etnográfico, este artigo examina as lições aprendidas na tentativa de esquadrinhar as dinâmicas políticas entre pobres do meio urbano. O texto inicia com uma análise das limitações do conceito de clientelismo político buscando entender o que de fato ocorre quando votos são "trocados" por recursos. Segue examinando a relação recursiva entre patronagem e ação coletiva - dois fenômenos políticos geralmente vistos como mutuamente antagônicos. O artigo discorre então sobre a noção de "zona cinzenta" - como área de ligações clandestinas entre perpetradores de violência e autoridades políticas estabelecidas. O trabalho encerra com uma análise de dois temas que surpreendentemente têm estado ausentes na pesquisa sobre pobreza urbana - sofrimento ambiental e a política da espera.

Reflecting on a decade and a half of ethnographic fieldwork, this article examines the lessons learned while attempting to scrutinize the political dynamics among the urban poor. It begins with an analysis of the limitations of the concept of political clientelism to understand what really goes on when votes are "exchanged" for resources. It then studies the recursive relationship between patronage and collective action - two political phenomena typically seen as antagonistic to each other. The paper then elaborates on the notion of "the gray zone" - as the area of clandestine connections between perpetrators of violence and established political authorities. The article finishes with an examination of two themes that have been surprisingly absent in the research on the urban poor, environmental suffering and the politics of waiting.