These two volumes contain 35 articles covering various topics in Colombian business history, divided into the following themes: the history of regional business elites, the history of entrepreneurs, the history of businesses, the history of economic sectors and business associations, and the history of entrepreneurship and technological development. The authors come from diverse backgrounds, from professional historians to business consultants.
A minority of the articles in this collection incorporate advances from the comparative historiography of Latin America. Others stand out for their localized outlook, and even regional biases. Regional identities in Colombia continue to be so strong that they even permeate academic analysis. Some of these articles, though carried out through archival work, fall back on clichés from the consensus history concerning the Antioqueño elite, and they thus reinforce the supposed “values particular to the paisa [Antioqueño] regional project” and the “typical mentality of the region.” Other articles attempt to...
