Ann Farnsworth-Alvear has written an elegant, theoretically sophisticated analysis of the industrialization process in Medellín’s textile mills during the first half of the twentieth century. The Colombian case constitutes an important study both for the similarities and differences that distinguished it from other Latin American industrial experiments. Medellín’s mills were among the first to develop in Latin America, became one of the region’s largest producers, and at their height (the 1940s and 1950s) provided one of the few Latin American examples of secure blue-collar employment and potential mobility for thousands of urban workers. In contrast to the majority of other Latin American mills, moreover, Medellín’s textile sector was distinctive in that it depended on an overwhelmingly female workforce during nearly four decades and was largely funded and owned by local, rather than foreign capital. Within the broader context of Colombian labor history the case of Medellín has also stood out...
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