Abstract

At the beginning of the 21st century, in the province of San Luis, Argentina, state plans in different spheres of government were presented as Master Plans. Strategic planning together with terms such as innovation and management, among others, became recurrent. In 2013, the Master Plan for Cultures 2013-2023 was officially presented. This article carries out an ethnographic analysis of the plan, focusing on how the local past is produced and managed in the government actions included therein. It considers how temporal notions - past, present, future - are strained by the implementation of a language from business management. What systems and social hierarchies are established? It also explores the role played by planning specialists in aspects that would be characteristic of the “puntanos” (the inhabitants of San Luis) as a whole; and how these aspects are “documented”, expressing a representation of the “San Luisian”, while at the same time seeking to legitimise it.

Keywords:
Master Plan of Cultures; San Luis, governmental politics; uses of the past