Recasting the Nation in Twentieth-Century Argentina

244 Pages·2022·5.001 MB·English

by  Benjamin Bryce, David Sheinin

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R
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EN RECASTING THE NATION IN
T
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TWENTIETH-CENTURY

ARGENTINA
Edited by Benjamin Bryce and David M.K. Sheinin
Recasting the Nation in
Twentieth-Century Argentina
Recasting the Nation in Twentieth-Century Argentina tackles the meaning
of “the nation” by looking to the geographical, ideological, and political
peripheries of society.
What it means to be Argentine has long consumed writers, political
leaders, and many others. For almost two centuries prominent figures
have defined national values while looking out from the urban centers of
the country and above all Buenos Aires. They have described the nation in
terms of urban experience and, secondarily, by surrounding frontiers; they
have focused on the country’s European heritage and advanced an entan-
gled vision of race and space. The chapters in this book take a dynamic
new approach. While scholars and political leaders have routinely ignored
the country’s many peripheries, the Argentine nation cannot be reasonably
understood without them. Those on the margins also defined core tenets
of the nation.
This volume will be a vital reading for those interested in how Latin
American societies emerged over the past two centuries and for those
curious about how ideas outside of the mainstream come to define
national identities.
Benjamin Bryce is Associate Professor of History at the University of
British Columbia. He is the author of The Boundaries of Ethnicity:
German Immigration and the Language of Belonging in Ontario (2022)
and To Belong in Buenos Aires: Germans, Argentines, and the Rise of a
Pluralist Society (2018).
David M.K. Sheinin is Professor of History at Trent University and
Académico Correspondiente of the Academia Nacional de la Historia de la
República Argentina. His most recent book is The New Pan-Americanism
and the Structuring of Inter-American Relations (2022).
Routledge Studies in the History of the Americas
26 Problems and Alternatives in the Modern Americas
Edited by Pablo A. Baisotti
27 Setbacks and Advances in the Modern Latin American Economy
Edited by Pablo A. Baisotti
28 Social, Political, and Religious Movements in the Modern Americas
Edited by Pablo A. Baisotti
29 The Policy of the Ford Administration Toward Cuba
Carrot and Stick
Håkan Karlsson and Tomás Diez Acosta
30 The New Pan-Americanism and the Structuring of Inter-American
Relations
Edited by Juan Pablo Scarfi and David M.K. Sheinin
31 The Middle Classes in Latin America
Subjectivities, Practices, and Genealogies
Edited by Mario Barbosa Cruz, A. Ricardo López-Pedreros,
and Claudia Stern
32 Narratives against Enslavement from the Court Rooms
of Nineteenth-Century Brazil
Fighting for Freedom
Clara Lunow
33 Recasting the Nation in Twentieth-Century Argentina
Edited by Benjamin Bryce and David M.K. Sheinin
For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.
com/Routledge-Studies-in-the-History-of-the-Americas/book-series/
RSHAM
Recasting the Nation in
Twentieth-Century Argentina
Edited by Benjamin Bryce
and David M.K. Sheinin
First published 2023
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,
an informa business
© 2023 selection and editorial matter, Benjamin Bryce
and David M.K. Sheinin; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Benjamin Bryce and David M.K. Sheinin to be
identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors
for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be
trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
ISBN: 978-1-032-34401-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-34403-4 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-32197-2 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003321972
Typeset in Sabon
by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
To the memory of our mothers, Lorraine and Rose

Contents
List of Figures ix
Acknowledgments x
About the Contributors xi
Introduction: Recasting the Nation in Twentieth-Century
Argentina 1
BENJAMIN BRYCE AND DAVID M.K. SHEININ
1 Cultural Pluralism Written in Stone: Ethnic Monuments
in the 1910 Argentine Centennial 18
BENJAMIN BRYCE
2 Modest Pleasures: Shopping and the Formation of the
Middle-Class Consumer, 1913–1940 45
DONNA J. GUY
3 Questioning the Binary: Two Women’s Tortuous Journeys
to the Other Side of the Political Barricades, 1919–1946 66
SANDRA MCGEE DEUTSCH
4 The Mines of Trapalanda in Our Souls: Race, Space,
and Myth in National Identity 88
CAROLYNE L. RYAN
5 “Nuestras Malvinas”: Nation and Territory in Argentine
Traveler Accounts, 1936–1971 108
SEBASTIÁN CARASSAI
6 Third World Argentina: Seventies Activism, Surveillance,
and the Politics of National Comparison 130
EDUARDO ELENA
viii Contents
7 The Year Censorship Broke: Public Criticism and the
Cultural Battle for a New Argentina, 1980–1981 151
DAVID M.K. SHEININ
8 Sexuality, Citizenship, and Nation in Argentina’s
Transition to Democracy 174
NATALIA MILANESIO
9 The Congreso Pedagógico: Church, State, and Education
in Post-Dictatorship Argentina, 1983–1991 195
JENNIFER ADAIR
Epilogue: National Imagination and Periodization
in Modern Argentine History 217
JORGE A. NÁLLIM
Index 226
Figures
0.1 Tourism Poster, 1948 7
0.2 Publicity Poster for Agricultural Production, 1949 9
0.3 CGT Poster in Honor of José Ignacio Rucci, 197 10
1.1 Inauguration of the Spanish Monument, 1926 26
1.2 La Pampa 27
1.3 San Martín Leading Armies Across the Andes, 1817 28
1.4 The Monument to France 29
1.5 Postcard: Monument to Columbus and House
of Government, 1940 30
1.6 Frescos on the Monument to Columbus 31
1.7 Bataglia di Salto del San Antonio (Front) 31
1.8 The British Clock Tower 34
1.9 The British Coat of Arms 35
1.10 The Argentine Coat of Arms 36
1.11 The German Fountain 37
2.1 Ad for Fine Clothing at Gath & Chaves 46
2.2 Ad for Gath & Chaves Buenos Aires and Regional Stores 47
2.3 Ads for Inexpensive Clothing in Harrods and Gath & Chaves 54
2.4 Men and Women Shopping at Gath & Chaves Main Store,
Buenos Aires 55
2.5 Gath & Chaves Main Store Santiago, Chile 60