Santiago Wallace and his legacy for a political anthropology of work and workers in Argentina

Abstract

Recovering the legacy of Argentinean anthropologist Santiago Wallace (1947-1998) for the studies of work and workers can not take any other form than that of a collective work of weaving. The name Santiago Wallace activates deep feelings like all those other words we use to describe our links with him, such as generosity, humility, passion, affection, militancy, politics, solidarity, camaraderie, warmth, fraternity, strength, debate and tragedy. To think of Santiago is to think of Santiago as a professor, researcher, trainer of new generations and companion, both in the sense of everyday affection and in the sense that the latter term connotes for popular political militancy in Argentina. For all this, this document will be crossed by two intimately articulated dimensions that make its powerful legacy. On the one hand, I will specify and comment on the main lines of research carried out to show its substantive contribution to the construction of a political perspective for the anthropological study of work and workers; on the other hand, I will refer to his pedagogy, political and affective, which linked many of us in times of social fragmentation and individualized academic careers. Following the links that Santiago himself was weaving, this tribute is based on a central text but assembles different writings, specially prepared for this occasion by Marcelo Pautasso, Josefina Martinez, Silvia Simonassi, Gloria Rodriguez, Marta Abonizio and Maria Cristina Cravino .