The social-­legal construction of the poor childhood: Social­-historical analysis in the discourse of Córdoba

Abstract

We intend to perform an analysis of the academic production of the National University of Córdoba from the late 19th century to the middle of the 20th century that deals with the problem of the illegitimate, abandoned, delinquent childhood, from a critical approach of the racism theory. One of the displacements this category underwent during the passed century is that it went beyond the field of race and it included women, young people... This aspect involves the discrimination of poor children, that have been confined to the place of the other. Racist characters can be traced in the discursive-political practices that have created the category of childhood, being plausible to successfully perform this task by considering as the object of analysis the theses, dissertations... that discuss this subject matter in Córdoba. We will try to reconstruct the voices that, due to the sense of social belonging of the actors, refer to a certain class ideology. This provides a study of the constitution of the Argentine ruling elite, when the problem of social control, or the social matter, was placed in the middle of all speculations. Analyzing both the characteristics of the discursive racism of the Argentine elite and the complex process of inferiorization of childhood that the discursive racism entails will allow to establish categories for an analysis of modern racism. In this way, elements to counteract the practices of domination will be presented. In order to do this, it is necessary to historicize them, reconstructing the discourses that support them and allow their continuity, since they persist in their functionality.