Research

Karen Robert has researched modern Argentine history for three decades. Her dissertation examined the evolution of Buenos Aires’ built environment in the latter half of the nineteenth century. It combined attention to urban design and political economy, interpreting elite projects to beautify the capital alongside an analysis of evolving property relations and real estate speculation. Though she later shifted focus to the post-1945 era, her work has continued to explore the intersections of material culture and political economy.

Robert’s recent book, Driving Terror: Labor, Violence, and Justice in Cold War Argentina, follows the story of a group of Ford autoworkers who were abducted, tortured, and “disappeared” for their union activism in 1976 to interrogate issues of labour repression and corporate complicity with Argentina’s last military dictatorship. The book also traces the symbolic evolution of the car the men helped build at Ford: the Falcon sedan. Promoted in the 1960s as a showpiece for economic development, the Falcon became an instrument of state terrorism under military rule, and then a symbol of impunity deployed by artists and activists in the post-dictatorship era.

In 2012, Robert translated a comprehensive guide to memory sites in Buenos Aires created by the respected human rights archive Memoria Abierta. Entitled Memories of Buenos Aires: Signs of State Terrorism in Argentina (University of Massachusetts Press, 2013), it catalogues hundreds of large and small monuments created to honour victims of human rights crimes committed during the dictatorship. Robert has also published articles and book chapters on the global history of the automobile and the concept of automobility.

A committed educator, Robert has spent more than a decade engaging with the emerging field of contemplative pedagogy, which integrates contemplative practices such as mindfulness, journaling, and deep listening into the classroom. She has given conference presentations on her experiences, and she collaborated with three colleagues to co-edit the volume Presence in the Online World: A Contemplative Perspective and Practice Guide for Educators (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023).