José Benito Garzón Montenegro (compiler). Creation of Working-Class Neighborhoods in Colombia at the Beginning of the 20th Century: Hygiene as an Excuse, Eugenics as a Purpose, Control as an End. Cali: Editorial Unicatólica, 2019. 163 pages.

Abstract

The historiographical production in Latin America on urban history, in recent decades, has rethought the methodology and theory surrounding the issue of the city and urban processes. These shifts have highlighted the importance and analytical potential of space as a historical social product shaped by multiple elements, social agencies, relationships, and power struggles. New studies have brought to light previously unexamined urban spaces, such as popular neighborhoods and working-class areas, among others.

This book is a compilation by José Benito Garzón, consisting of six chapters based on independent articles presented at various academic events on urban history in Colombia. Its publication arises from the Colombian Network of Urban History and the authors’ interest in disseminating and contributing the results of their work. In this way, Garzón organizes the texts around three main themes: hygiene as a justification for urban housing processes for workers, the state's eugenics project for the working class, and social control through ways of life and behavior.