Abstract

ALEXIS DE GREIFF, A.. Fragmenting Roads without Dividing the Nation in Colombia, c. 1930: A Material History of the "State in Action". Anu. colomb. hist. soc. cult. [online]. 2021, vol.48, n.1, pp.163-200.  Epub Jan 28, 2021. ISSN 0120-2456.  https://doi.org/10.15446/achsc.v48n1.91548.

Colombian historiography identifies the fragmentation of the territory as a central variable to explain the configuration of the state and the nation. This fundamental breakdown has been attributed to exceptional topographic and environmental conditions, on the one hand, and to the density of its population, on the other. Although it is accepted that transport routes are a constitutive part of the topography of the territory, little has been explored regarding their participation in the construction of a "fragmented country". A controversy between the central government and the Department of Antioquia about the road standards that should be applied in the twenties of the Twentieth Century, serves as the pivot of the analysis. I suggest that the fragmentation of the Colombian territory is the result of the interaction between institutions, infrastructure, and nature. The controversy, which involved engineers, politicians, unions, highways, construction companies, technical standards, and construction materials, was closed through the threat of further division of the nation, effectively invoked by local elites as a resource for political negotiation. I propose the notion of "State in action" to characterize the essential tension inherent in a national physical, institutional, and symbolic space under construction.

Keywords : Antioquia; Colombia; infrastructure; roads; State in action; territory.

        · abstract in Spanish | Portuguese     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )