“A handmade job”

State actions within the framework of a government policy in Santiago del Estero, Argentina

Abstract

This article is based on an Anthropology of Politics and the State. It’s focused on the implementation of counseling on health promotion and prevention, aimed at women in a situation of socio-occupational vulnerability, within the national program Ellas Hacen (EH) between 2015 and 2017. Questions revolved around the concern to know how the trainers “formed” these women, that is, paraphrasing  the name of the program, how they “made” “women” that they “do”. In this way, the “object” of this research was the management actions of the trainers from the study of their practices and daily work. There, various categories and understandings typical of that social world intersected, at the same time that affective relationships emerged between trainers and recipients. The recognition of their work as artisan, was a native category that allowed me to understand the work that the trainers did on a daily basis.