Historia de la provincia de Buenos Aires. Vol. 6, El Gran Buenos Aires

This is the sixth and final volume of an important and ambitious effort to examine the history of Argentina's wealthiest and most populous province from the colonial period to the first decade of the twenty-first century. As with previous volumes, this is the product of a collaborative effort, in this case involving 27 contributors who have written, singly or jointly, an introduction and 18 chapters.The introductory essay by architectural historian Adrián Gorelik seeks to define just what is meant by “el Gran Buenos Aires” geographically, jurisdictionally, and in the popular imagination. The fundamental question is, Should the term include the national capital city or refer only to the districts that surround it? While the term can often mean both, the essays that follow focus primarily on the 24 (as of 2010) neighboring districts.The volume is divided into four parts. The first describes “demarcaciones, territorios e imaginarios.” The four essays in this section describe how these districts evolved over time, the complex jurisdictional issues for an area so closely tied to the capital but under the administrative control of the provincial government, the image of this region in the press, and the region's enormous population growth, almost doubling in size from a little more than 5.3 million in 1970 to almost 10 million in 2010, roughly two-thirds of the provincial and one-quarter of the national population. Much of the population growth in this area until the 1930s came from European immigration. Since then, like much of the rest of Latin America, population growth has overwhelmingly been due to internal migration.The second part deals with “economía, trabajo y estructura social.” Most of the migration to the suburbs of the capital from the 1930s on has been related to the development of manufacturing, especially in southern suburbs like Avellaneda and Quilmes. Chapters in this section describe the initial stages of industrial growth, its decline in the 1970s, and its persistence as an important feature of the region despite the economic difficulties of the 1990s and the crisis in the early 2000s. Attention is also paid to the changes in labor markets and social structures in recent years as a result of these developments.The first two parts of the volume provide a useful framework for viewing the third section, which focuses on “políticas, partidos y movimientos.” Chapters in this section describe the struggle between Radicals and Conservatives to control the province in the early decades of the twentieth century, the ascendancy of Peronism and its continued dominance since the 1940s, the failed attempts to create a new political force during the military dictatorship of the 1970s, the political role of the province since the restoration of democracy in the 1980s, and the development of protest movements like that launched by the piqueteros, who emerged from the suburbs in the 1990s and early 2000s to highlight via confrontational tactics the growth of poverty in el Gran Buenos Aires. Another chapter examines education.The final section deals with “sociabilidad y cultura.” Chapters examine the role of community organizing and associations in the development of the suburbs, the contrasting image of certain parts of el Gran Buenos Aires as both seedbeds of crime and refuges for the well-to-do in gated communities, descriptions of the area surrounding the capital in recent films and literature, the development of a particular suburban music scene, and an examination of the growing religious diversity in suburban districts.Certain features set this volume apart from its predecessors. First, instead of looking at the province as a whole, it deals primarily with a particular geographical region within that whole. Second, the chronological focus tends to be on the recent past, especially the years since the 1970s. This is a reasonable emphasis, given the rapid growth of the area surrounding the capital and the important changes that have taken place there over the past four decades. Readers looking for a more extensive treatment of Greater Buenos Aires or any of its constituent parts in earlier years will have to look elsewhere.Yet this collection also shares many of the virtues of earlier volumes. The individual chapters are based on up-to-date research, are very well organized, and are presented in a clear and mostly jargon-free fashion. Although there is some inevitable overlap and repetition, the contributors often refer to other works in the volume, evidence that this is a truly well-coordinated, collaborative effort rather than an attempt to jam a series of discrete essays into one volume. To one degree or another, each contributor does an excellent job of showing how national events had a particular impact on Greater Buenos Aires. Finally, while it would be impossible to give equal weight and time to each of the 24 districts, each contributor provides a nuanced and sophisticated overview of what can be described in general terms as one entity but that is much more complex when one examines its many component parts.Students of Argentine history will find this an invaluable resource for understanding developments in what is arguably the most important area of the country politically, socially, and economically. Those interested more generally in Latin American urban development will also find this volume useful. The rapid growth of suburbs surrounding national capitals and other major urban centers is an important feature of post–World War II developments throughout the Americas. The example of el Gran Buenos Aires, which has some unique features, offers abundant opportunities for a broader comparative analysis.In sum, this volume is a fitting conclusion to a series that can serve as a model for other efforts, both in Argentina and elsewhere, to examine more deeply provincial, regional, and state histories through closely coordinated collaborative efforts

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