The Buenos Aires Reader offers an insider’s look at the diverse lived experiences of the people, politics, and culture of Argentina’s capital city primarily from the nineteenth century to the present. Refuting the tired cliché that Buenos Aires is the “Paris of South America,” this book gives a nuanced view of a city that has long been attentive to international trends yet never ceases to celebrate its local culture. The vibrant opinions, reflections, and voices of Buenos Aires come to life through selections that range from songs, poems, letters, and essays to interviews, cartoons, paintings, and historical documents, many of which have been translated into English for the first time. These selections tell the story of the city’s culture of protest and celebration, its passion for soccer and sport, its gastronomy and food traditions, its legendary nightlife, and its musical, literary, and artistic cultures. Providing an unparalleled look at Buenos Aires’s history, culture, and politics, this volume is an ideal companion for anyone interested in this dynamic, disruptive, and inventive city.
- Cover
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Color Plates
- Introduction
- Buenos Aires: A Brief History of the Last Five Hundred Years
- I. The Living City
- Shopping in the City, Ezequiel Martínez Estrada
- From Yellow Fever to COVID-19: Epidemics and Inequalities in the City, Benigno Lugones, Guillermo Rawson, Andrés D’Elía, Nora Cortiñas, and Adolfo Pérez Esquivel
- The Colectivo, an Innovation for the Modern City, Anonymous and César Fernández Moreno
- New Neighborhoods and the Expansion of City Life, Conrado Nalé Roxlo, Alberto Vázquez, and Pablo Riggio
- Green Spaces, Ricardo Lorenzo, “Borocotó”
- Neighborhood Associations, Corporación Mitre, Boedo Neighborhood Association, and Unión Vecinal
- El Once: The Changing Character of an Iconic Jewish Neighborhood, César Tiempo and Marcelo Cohen
- The Single-Family Home as a Cultural and Political Ideal, Sameer Makarius and Mundo Peronista
- Vertical Living, Homero Expósito
- Dictatorship and the Razing of the City’s Villas, City Housing Office, Magtara Feres, and Eduardo Blaustein
- The Permanence of “Emergency” Settlements, Anonymous, David Fernández, and Dalma Villalba
- Contrasts in Greater Buenos Aires, Various Authors and Claudia Piñeiro
- II. Taking to the Street
- Celebrations in the Plaza in the Early Nineteenth Century, Carlos E. Pellegrini, John Parish Robertson, and William Parish Robertson
- The Plaza and the Demands of the People, José María Tagiman and Vicente Fidel López
- The Streets of Revelry: Carnaval, Anonymous and Eustaquio Pellicer
- Workers Take to the Street, Anonymous and Various Authors
- The Church in the Street, Anonymous and Caras y Caretas
- The Plaza de Mayo and Juan Perón, Anonymous and Mundo Peronista
- The Writing on the Wall, Anonymous, Alejo Santander, and Tano Verón
- Public Violence, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias–Montoneros
- The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, Eduardo Longoni, Adriana Lestido, Renée Epelbaum, and Marjorie Agosín
- The Plaza as a Site of “Consensus,” Revista Gente
- The Escrache, Julieta Colomer and Anabella Arrascaeta
- A White Tent Occupies the Plaza, Luis Bruschtein
- Public Kitchens and Piquetes, Hilda
- Ni Una Menos, Not One Less, Ni Una Menos, Verónica Abdala, and Carolina Yuriko Arakaki
- Streets of Celebration, Gastón Pérez Mazás and Pedro Lipcovich
- III. Eating in Buenos Aires
- Mate as Ritual, Lalo Mir
- Nineteenth-Century Meals, Lucio V. Mansilla
- Anti-imperialism and Beef, Lisandro de la Torre, José Peter, and Caras y Caretas
- Food and Crisis, Juan González Yuste
- The Asado: A Food Ritual, Eduardo Archetti, Anonymous, and Nicolás Olivari
- Patriotic Cooking, Cía Sansinena
- Domestic Labors, Marisa Avigliano
- The Chocotorta and Changing Ideas of Women’s Work, Marité Mabragaña and Hernán Firpo
- Anarchist Pastries, Anonymous and El Obrero
- Neighborhood Businesses, Bernardo González Arrili
- The Café, Alberto Mario Salas and Anonymous
- Pizza, Norberto Folino
- Food and Nostalgia, Julio Cortázar
- The Bodegón, Nicolás Olivari
- A Twenty-First-Century Culinary Scene, Lis Ra
- IV. Hinchas, Cracks, and Potreros in the City of Soccer
- Health, Civilization, and Sport, Enrique Romero Brest and Anonymous
- Social Classes Converge at the Racetrack, Modesto Papavero and Last Reason
- The Philosophers of Local Sport, El Gráfico and Dante Panzeri
- El Pibe, Billiken and Pedro Orgambide
- The Right to Play: Women and the Game, Mónica Santino and Emilia Rojas
- Maradona, Maradonear, Eduardo Galeano and Jorge Giner
- The Dream, Reinaldo Yiso and Lucio Arce
- The Fans: La Hinchada, Roberto Fontanarrosa
- An Hincha Is Born, Not Made, Juan Sasturian
- Stadium Songs, River Plate Fans and San Lorenzo Fans
- The Thrill of the Superclásico, Héctor Negro
- Violence, Clarín
- Soccer, Politics, and Protest, El Gráfico
- Toward an Inclusive Future, Inés Arrondo and Analía Fernández Fuks
- V. Reading, Watching, and Listening in Buenos Aires
- Education and Civilization, Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
- Writing Becomes a Profession, José González Carbalho
- New Vanguards, Martín Fierro and Revista Claridad
- Media, Gender, and Feminist Thought, Grete Stern and Feminaria
- The Pampa in the City, via Radio, Andrés González Pulido
- The Cinema, a Barrio Institution, José Pablo Feinmann
- The Buenos Aires Middle Class, on Screen, Atlántida
- Radio, Television, and Celebrity Culture, Carlos Ulanovsky, Clarín, and Beatriz Sarlo
- An Open Letter to the Dictatorship, Rodolfo Walsh
- Humor under Censorship, Humor Registrado, Andrés Cascioli, and Tomás Lüders
- Broad Audiences and Burned Books, Amanda Toubes, Ricardo Figueira, Boris Spivacow, and Delia Maunás
- Press under Dictatorship, Robert Cox and Luis Bruschtein
- The Bookstore, a Downtown Institution, Jennifer Croft and Rubén Vela
- VI. The City at Night
- The City of Fury, Manuel Romero and Gustavo Cerati
- Nights at the Colón, El Mosquito and Manuel Mujica Lainez
- Evening Theater, on Stage and in the Street, Leónidas Barletta, Clarín, and Carlos Somigliana
- Tango and the Melodrama of the Milonguita, Samuel Linning
- The Iconic Gardel, Edmundo Eichelbaum and Juan José Sebreli
- Decent Tango, Clara Gertz
- Piazzola and the Reinvention of Tango, Diana Piazzola
- Sex, Telos, and Regulation, Fernando S. and César A.
- Queer Nights, Policed, Luis Troitiño, Juan Queiroz, Cristian Trincado, and María Luisa Peralta
- State Terror in the Dark, Conadep (National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons)
- Rebellious Rock, Jorge Hipólito Meijide and Charly García
- Sounds of Folk Cross Social Lines, Anonymous and María Seoane
- Global/Local Sounds: Cumbia Villera and Argentine Trap, Daniel Riera, Bizarrap, and Julio Leiva
- The Boliche, Olivia Gallo
- VII. Written Cities
- Visual Cities, Laura Malosetti Costa, Antonio Berni, and Marta Minujín
- The City Abandoned, José Mármol
- Buenos Aires as Paris, Adolfo Posada, Marcel Duchamp, and José María Vargas Vila
- Local Identity and Cosmopolitanism, Aníbal Latino and Georges Clemenceau
- Arrivals and Departures, Sylvia Molloy
- The City of Psychoanalysis, Elisabeth Roudinesco
- Portraits of Buenos Aires, Sara Facio and Facundo de Zuviría
- The Neighborhood and the City Center, José Luis Romero
- A New Urban Folklore, Evaristo Carriego and Homero Manzi
- Sketches of Buenos Aires, Roberto Arlt
- The Beautiful and Mundane Urban Grid, Alberto Gerchunoff, Ezequiel Martínez Estrada, and Alfonsina Storni
- Catholic Encounters with the Peronist City, Delfina Bunge de Gálvez
- “Cabecita negra,” Germán Rozenmacher
- The City under Military Control, Jorge Asís and Ricardo Piglia
- The Villa, from Without and Within, Sergio Chejfec, César Aira, and César González
- Social Mobility, Tulio Halperín Donghi
- White-Collar Workers, Roberto Mariani and Alfonsina Storni
- Critiques of the Buenos Aires Middle Class, Juan José Sebreli
- Writing the Middle Classes, Juan Carlos Torre and Guillermo Oliveto
- Enduring City, María Elena Walsh and Bersuit Vergarabat
- Suggestions for Further Reading and Viewing
- Acknowledgment of Copyrights and Sources
- Index
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- Q
- R
- S
- T
- U
- V
- W
- X
- Y
- Z
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