Energetic connections. Francoist dam engineers as state agents constituted in international settings during the 1950s and 1960s

Abstract

Engineers were important technical experts in Francoist Spain. Furthermore, they were political and social key figures and promotors of the ideology of progress for the government. Through the construction of large-scale projects, they contributed to Francoist economic success and were responsible for its major social consequences including the suffering of many. Dam constructing engineers where a prestigious elite in the discipline. Beginning form the 1950s, they sought to make Spain a respected partner on an international level again. To archive this aim they re-established contacts from the 1920s and 1930 (those form the colonial past included) and created new ones. Especially contacts to the USA but also to the USSR became central. On an international level engineers were connected through ideas, knowledge, personal contacts and the material they worked with. Dams become political objects in this context. This object enabled engineers to interact on technical-political missions through the iron curtain. Key for international contact and cooperation was engineer’s habitus. Shared values, ways of behaviour and interests created a medium of communication beside political obstacles which included a strong distinction and exclusion in terms of class and gender (race played at least in Spain a minor role). Habitus helped dam building engineers to create importance as a group in various political contexts. In Spain it helped to strengthen the technical, social, political and economic role of dam engineers. Those engineers played a significant part to consolidate the Francoist regime within the country and on an international level.