La Plaza Arenas, un Mercado con Rostro e Identidad: Cinco Décadas Resignificando El Valor Social del Trabajo y el Valor de Reúso de las Mercancías

There are historical struggles of groups such as those of the PlazaArenas, which are the living heritage of this nation and deserve recognition and solidarity from public management. Disrupting the practices of disposable consumerism towards responsible and supportive consumption is not an easy task in the midst of mercantile capitalism. This article contributes to the reflection on the struggle of one of the groups in the city of Quito: La Plaza Arenas, which has persevered for five decades in the trade that was born as informal and gradually manages to operate in a regularized market, with very limited support from the local government. Their struggle is resurrected every day in the dynamics of subsistence, resistance and the external gaze with delegitimizing imaginaries. Anthropological reading is proposed from the timeline in deep aspects of cohesion such as origin, identity, solidarity, organization, daily struggle and the art of traditional trades as an aesthetic proposal and generator of uses and meanings. Finally, reflections resulting from a participatory process of the actors are outlined, with readings based on their own struggles but also on their new commitments to defend a living heritage legacy to those present and future generations that continue to enchant the metropolis like a photograph of the last century and being full of meaning and utility for the impoverished social groups of today.