Introduction to the dossier “Work and Workers in Spain and Latin America, 16th-19th Centuries: Contributions to a Social History of Urban Labour”

Abstract

This dossier presents advances made in the field of urban labour in some of the territories of the Hispanic monarchy, both in the Iberian Peninsula itself and in colonial America, from the early 16th century to the late 19th century. The chosen locations are Granada, Valencia, and Madrid in Spain, and Buenos Aires in Argentina. Nourished by historiographical innovations that marked the turn of the century, the labour history proposed in this dossier pays attention to terminology, gender distinctions, spatialization of labour experiences, and the importance of identity assignments in the organization of work. The collection goes beyond a mere juxtaposition of case studies, constituting an original gateway to new approaches and ways of considering labour history.