Petitions and the Construction of Citizenship in Early 19th Century Argentina.

FAIN: FT-53069-05

Seth Meisel
University of Wisconsin, Whitewater (Whitewater, WI 53190-1705)

This project seeks funding for two months of archival research in order to understand the late colonial roots of Argentina’s early nineteenth century political culture. In particular, I will be examining popular petitions and the process of petition-making from 1780-1810. This study will complement work I have already conducted on the ways in which the nation’s poor employed the traditional practice of submitting petitions in order to help shape the boundaries of citizenship after Independence as well as the important political role of petitioning in bridging elite and popular cultures in the transition from colony to nationhood.