Burócratas ambulantes. Movilidad y producción de conocimiento estadístico en Chile, 1860-1873

Focusing on the figure of the provincial statistical agent, position established by law of October 5, 1855, this article studies the links between circulation and bureaucracy regarding statistical knowledge production in Chile during 1860-1873. To this effect, it concentrates on the history of the Statistical Office under Santiago Lindsay’s administration, who launched a series of reforms conceived to strengthen the state capacity of extracting and processing official information. By analyzing the territorial and relational dimensions of the production of statistics and considering the administrative effects of the emergence of an ambulant bureaucracy, the article explores the practical limits of state power as well as the diverse bureaucratic dealings that determined the production of texts whose complexity invites us to reassess what we understand by official documents.