Towards a history of the ILO and Latin America: perspectives, problems and collaborative work

Abstract

This essay reflects on the links between a key labour organisation of the interwar period, the International Labour Organisation (ILO), and experiences and labour policies in Latin America. This relationship has been neglected, if not ignored, by the literature on the institutional history of the ILO, which has focused primarily on other regions. An attempt has been made by Latin American academic researchers, to restore Latin America to its rightful place in the history of the development of the ILO. That work allows us to rethink some of the networks, actors and tensions in the regional and national spaces of the American continent, which saw in the ILO a new arena for dispute and legitimacy. The complex links between the ILO and Latin America form the focus of study for an interdisciplinary network that we set up some years ago, feeding into these reflections. The work of that network enables us to trace a tentative timeline for the different stages in that relationship. Finally, we address some challenges and propose an agenda for future research that considers the connection between the ILO and Latin America, and its role in defining, regulating and configuring the world of labour. In turn, these efforts will feed into the history of the international organization itself.