Dominik Gall, doctoral researcher in project B11 of the CRC 1342 and research assistant at the Department of Latin American History at the Institute of History at the University of Bremen, is working on the history of Argentine social policy from 1880-1949 and its links to the sugar industry in Jujuy from a global historical perspective. The main focus are the interactions and relationships between protectionism and social policy as well as their multidimensional economic, economic and social interdependencies. Examples include economic shocks and crises, immigration and transnational knowledge transfers. This global perspective in conjunction with the regional focus on the province of Jujuy, which at first glance appears to be far removed from the political and economic centre of Argentina - Buenos Aires - generates new research impulses by abandoning the national framework as a spatial limitation of the research subject. Furthermore, the dissertation project enables intellectual-historical research into the link between the ‘social question’ and the ‘indigenous question’ against the background of the consolidation of the still young nation state. In this context, the repressive dimension of social policy is to be examined with special consideration of globalised knowledge production.
To pursue this research interest, Dominik Gall travelled to Argentina in October and November 2024. There he not only visited the capital Buenos Aires for research purposes, but also travelled to Jujuy, the northernmost province of Argentina. The aim of the trip was to identify, localise and retrieve relevant sources that shed light on the nexus of social policy, protectionism and nation-state consolidation.
In Buenos Aires, Dominik Gall was able to visit various sections of the National Archives, the Congress Archives and relevant libraries such as the Biblioteca Nacional Mariano Moreno (Argentinian National Library). In the archives in the capital, he primarily found sources that provide information about communication between the national government and the individual provinces, as well as assessments of the political and social situation. Global historical and intellectual-historical analysis should provide insights into the concepts and discourses of the relevant actors regarding trade and social policy and thus their scope for action. In San Salvador de Jujuy, Dominik Gall was able to access the Archivo de Tribunales (Court Archive), the Archivo historico de la Provincia (Provincial Historical Archive), the Archivo historico del poder legislativo and the newspaper archive. The corpus of sources researched includes amongst others correspondence between the sugar industrialists and the local government, minutes of proposed legislation and parliamentary consultations, annual speeches by the provincial government and case files on work accidents, from which Dominik Gall hopes to gain insights into the marginalised view on socio-political projects of the various indigenous groups living in Jujuy.
The trip made it clear once again that the sugar industry in Jujuy is a suitable subject for pursuing the research interests of sub-project B11 for several reasons. The massive boom that the local industry experienced at the turn of the century, the competitive advantage offered by protectionist measures, its integration into the world market, the exploitation of indigenous labour and the extensive political influence of the ingenios (sugar mills) make it a focal point from which the global interdependencies of Argentinian social policy can be observed.
Contact:
Dominik Gall
CRC 1342: Global Dynamics of Social Policy
Universitäts-Boulevard 13
28359 Bremen
Phone: +49 421 218-67203
E-Mail: dgall@uni-bremen.de
