UC Santa Cruz UC Santa Cruz Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Derailed: Aging Railroad Infrastructure and Precarious Mobility in Buenos Aires Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2zt247kj Author Mc Callum, Stephanie Publication Date 2018 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ DERAILED: AGING RAILROAD INFRASTRUCTURE AND PRECARIOUS MOBILITY IN BUENOS AIRES A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in ANTHROPOLOGY by Stephanie Mc Callum June 2018 The Dissertation of Stephanie Mc Callum is approved: _________________________________ Professor Melissa L. Caldwell, Chair _________________________________ Professor Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing _________________________________ Professor Lisa Rofel _________________________________ Professor Gastón R. Gordillo ____________________________ Tyrus Miller Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Copyright © by Stephanie Mc Callum 2018 LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................................... V ACRONYMS ................................................................................................................................. VII ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................. VIII ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................. X CHAPTER ONE: TRAGEDY FORETOLD ................................................................................... 1 RISK MATERIALIZED ................................................................................................................................................ 6 PROGRESS AND DECAY .......................................................................................................................................... 13 ITINERANT ETHNOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................................. 24 ITINERARY ................................................................................................................................................................ 33 CHAPTER TWO: THE SPIDER’S WEB (HISTORY, REFRIED) ............................................. 36 MATERIALIZING PROGRESS .................................................................................................................................. 37 STITCHING THE NATION ....................................................................................................................................... 41 THE SPIDER’S WEB.................................................................................................................................................. 46 NATIONALIZATION ................................................................................................................................................. 48 REORGANIZATION .................................................................................................................................................. 51 TRAUMATIC REFORMS ............................................................................................................................................ 53 “THE CANCER OF ARGENTINA” .......................................................................................................................... 55 HISTORY, REFRIED.................................................................................................................................................. 58 CHAPTER THREE: CLOCKS ...................................................................................................... 65 DISAPPEARANCE...................................................................................................................................................... 73 BOOM AND BUST ..................................................................................................................................................... 80 PERMANENT RISK ................................................................................................................................................... 86 TOPOLOGIES OF DIS/CONNECTION ................................................................................................................... 90 RAILROAD EMERGENCY ........................................................................................................................................ 94 CODA ......................................................................................................................................................................... 99 CHAPTER FOUR: MONSTER TRAINS ................................................................................... 101 THE MAKING OF MONSTER TRAINS ................................................................................................................. 107 CHANGING INTERIORS......................................................................................................................................... 112 NAVIGATING MONSTER TRAINS ........................................................................................................................ 116 RACIALIZING INFRASTRUCTURE......................................................................................................................... 121 LIKE CATTLE .......................................................................................................................................................... 129 AFTER ONCE .......................................................................................................................................................... 136 THE MEANTIME..................................................................................................................................................... 142 INTERLUDE: HEAT .................................................................................................................. 145 CHAPTER FIVE: THE MEMORY OF METALS ...................................................................... 151 FIERROS HAVE MEMORY ..................................................................................................................................... 156 ON RUST ................................................................................................................................................................. 160 INFRASTRUCTURE AS ARCHIVE ........................................................................................................................... 164 THE LIVED EXPERIENCE OF INFRASTRUCTURE.............................................................................................. 171 AFFECTIVE HERITAGE ......................................................................................................................................... 175 ENGAGING MATERIAL MEMORY ....................................................................................................................... 184 INTERLUDE: CHATARRA ........................................................................................................ 187 CHAPTER SIX: RAILROAD REVOLUTION ........................................................................... 193 WATER CLOSET MORRIS ...................................................................................................................................... 201 THE GRAVEYARD .................................................................................................................................................. 214 iii PROGRESS…DERAILED?...................................................................................................................................... 224 CHAPTER SEVEN: RE-ENGINEERING THE CITY ............................................................. 230 APPENDIX .................................................................................................................................. 242 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................................... 243 iv List of Figures Figure 1. An iconic image of the Tragedia de Once ............................................................... 3 Figure 2. At the inauguration of the city’s memorial to the victims ................................ 10 Figure 3. Diagram of the metropolitan rail network .......................................................... 26 Figure 4. Diagrams of the Sarmiento and Mitre railroad lines ......................................... 29 Figure 5. Twilight in Retiro .................................................................................................... 73 Figure 6. Las Heras station .................................................................................................... 92 Figure 7. Carlos’ desk ............................................................................................................. 100 Figure 8. A Sarmiento train en route to Once station ....................................................... 110 Figure 9. View of the interior of Retiro station .................................................................. 127 Figure 10. A “Randazzo blue” train in Once station ........................................................