About E. P. Thompson: A testimony from the margins

Abstract

This intervention seeks to illustrate, in a testimonial way, the advent of E. P. Thompson to Argentina in the context of the night of the dictatorship and his impact in a group of Argentine historians that formed the Study program of economic and social American history (PEHESA). Above all, Thompson brought new forms of viewing and interrogating the past, focusing on social subjects and both the individual and collective action. In this sense, the parameters proposed by E. P. Thompson, especially the understanding of the relationships between those above and those below as a mechanism of both resistance and control, also impacted on the study of the political life of the past in Argentina. Thereby, Thompson’s work inspired our investigations.