Territory, Housing and Work in the Establishment of Agricultural Colonies in Olavarría (Buenos Aires, 19th Century). First Social Policy Test in Rural Habitat Production

Abstract

During the late 19th century, the Argentine Nation-State sought to consolidate by expanding its borders and incorporating new lands to the national territory as well as to the productive system. One of the strategies implemented to achieve this objective was the installation of immigrant colonies in the territory that was being conquered from the native populations. This work exposes the characteristics of an embryonic model of integral habitat management that the Argentine Nation-State and the Province of Buenos Aires implemented in rural areas for the settlement of Russian-German immigrants in agricultural colonies as part of the colonization process of the current Olavarría Department at the end of the 19th century. In this process, the roles played by the housing and the construction technology used are highlighted. These objectives were fulfilled through the compilation and analysis of documentary sources of the time, the registry of the oral history of the inhabitants and the in situ survey of houses. It was observed that the implemented management model managed to integrate territorial, work and housing aspects, where the assisted self-construction scheme and the earthen construction technology were functional to the state project.