European pauperism debates shifted from state-obligation secrecy to public kinship politics

Evidence

Opposition was raised to both the 1872 and 1901 commissions, but of vastly different types. In 1874 it was the Minister of Colonies who squashed publication. In 1901 it came from many more quarters—from those who felt seared from afar and scorched up close. Both commissions were forced to confront the ambiguous terms of white privilege and who had rights to claim it. Moreover, what had remained a secreted debate on whether it should be the state’s obligation to pay for poor relief in 1872 emerged at the center of public debate in 1901 over whether social welfare would be forged—or would flounder—on the intimate politics of kinship, family, and race. — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 901