Abstract

LOBATO, Mirta Zaida. Work, Culture and Power: Historiographical Dilemma and Gender Studies in Argentina. Estud. filos. práct. hist. ideas [online]. 2008, vol.10, n.2, pp.29-45. ISSN 1851-9490.

Problems, theories and methodologies used to produce historical knowledge underwent a remarkable change during the second half of the XX century. Some of these changes are related to feminist studies and the issues derived from them under the name of history of women and gender studies. This vast field is not immutable and has involved a lot of discussion among women from different disciplines; for this reason neither the history of women nor gender studies are based on the initial premises. Though there are different approaches, the studies coming from this field share a critical attitude towards the so-called objectivity and universality of knowledge, underline the different power relations between men an women, take the experiences of women avoiding turning them into victims or romantic subjects whose experiences can be generalized regardless race, class or generation, and, above all, try to change the disadvantageous situation of women. On the historical side historiographical debates were not lesser. Along the last decades the ways of making history were threatened and defied-in various ways and with different intensities-by studies on women, the linguistic turn, the history of culture, the post-colonial and subordination studies. An analytical examination of this now wide production requires an approach focused on specific problems. For this reason I intend to analyze the social-historical literature on work issues, closely related to culture and power. Despite the importance of this subject in our societies and of the presence of women in the working market, either at home or earning a wage, historiography has built the national discourse based on political, social and cultural practices of men. Such bias has only started to change in our country during the last three decades.

Keywords : Women; Gender studies; Feminism; History of work; Work market; Inequity.

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