Taking roots in fertile land. Productions, domesticity and memories of rural families in late Argentine colonization (mid-twentieth century)

Abstract

From the first half of the 20th century it grew up some concerns about the real or potential problems that rural exodus and urban overpopulation could bring. This thought got stronger during the second postwar period in academic fields and in political leadership international, where population, territorial and food aspects were discussed. In a Latin American context wich was not left out of such debates, Argentina joined different counter-urbanization proposals that encouraged the deconcentration and settlement of families in rural zones close to the cities. The creation of colonies with an intensive productive profile based on family work was an interesting policy. Although these proyects received historical attention from different angles, the families involved usually remained relegated. In that sense, our purpose is to analyse the families to whom the proposals were addressed with emphasis on unraveling productive practices and features of life domestic, especially with attention to experiences according to gender. With this objective we study two cases of agricultural colonies created in 1951 (“17 de Octubre/ La Capilla” and “Justo José de Urquiza”) on the edges of two cities near to the capital of the Province of Buenos Aires (La Plata) and the federal capital.