From artisans to workers: Two studies on the regulation of work-knowledge

Abstract

This paper tries to approach the study of the regulation of work-knowledge from a historical-educational perspective. Starting from the analysis of two historically situated experiences – the teaching of mechanical trades in the Río de la Plata Viceroyalty and the formation of railroad engine drivers during the period of organization of the National State –, the actions deployed by artisans and railroad workers to regulate the knowledge of their respective trades will be presented. In dialog with the problematic of cultural history, the text explores the articulation between discursive orderings and the network of practices that are produced around the regulation of knowledge. And particularly, the ways in which knowledge is rooted in a specific historical moment, the mechanisms of access to spaces of formation/work, the relation between knowledge and forms of accreditation and promotion, the relation between the subjects possessing this knowledge and their inscription in the social structure of their time.

Key words: regulation of knowledge, work-knowledge, artisans, railroad workers.