New Cultural History of Peronism

In nearly every account of modern Argentine history, the first Peronist regime (1946–55) emerges as the critical juncture. Appealing to growing masses of industrial workers, Juan Perón built a powerful populist movement that transformed economic and political structures, promulgated new conceptions and representations of the nation, and deeply polarized the Argentine populace. Yet until now, most scholarship on Peronism has been constrained by a narrow, top-down perspective. Inspired by the pioneering work of the historian Daniel James and new approaches to Latin American cultural history, scholars have recently begun to rewrite the history of mid-twentieth-century Argentina. The New Cultural History of Peronism brings together the best of this important new scholarship.Situating Peronism within the broad arc of twentieth-century Argentine cultural change, the contributors focus on the interplay of cultural traditions, official policies, commercial imperatives, and popular perceptions. They describe how the Perón regime’s rhetoric and representations helped to produce new ideas of national and collective identity. At the same time, they show how Argentines pursued their interests through their engagement with the Peronist project, and, in so doing, pushed the regime in new directions. While the volume’s emphasis is on the first Perón presidency, one contributor explores the origins of the regime and two others consider Peronism’s transformations in subsequent years. The essays address topics including mass culture and melodrama, folk music, pageants, social respectability, architecture, and the intense emotional investment inspired by Peronism. They examine the experiences of women, indigenous groups, middle-class anti-Peronists, internal migrants, academics, and workers. By illuminating the connections between the state and popular consciousness, The New Cultural History of Peronism exposes the contradictions and ambivalences that have characterized Argentine populism.Contributors: Anahi Ballent, Oscar Chamosa, María Damilakou, Eduardo Elena, Matthew B. Karush, Diana Lenton, Mirta Zaida Lobato, Natalia Milanesio, Mariano Ben Plotkin, César Seveso, Lizel Tornay

“All those interested in the protean historical phenomenon of Peronism are indebted to Matthew B. Karush and Oscar Chamosa for this stimulating collection of essays. The New Cultural History of Peronism offers us, often for the first time in English, access to new perspectives drawn from the recent work of Argentine and North American scholars. These essays are interdisciplinary in nature and represent the creative application of the insights of the new cultural history to the history of Peronism. Framed by a lucid introduction by the editors and a fine overview essay on Peronism and its scholarship by Mariano Ben Plotkin, the essays in this volume constitute both an invaluable teaching tool and a challenge to researchers to pursue further the paths so provocatively teased out by this new cohort of Peronólogos.”—Daniel James, author of Doña María’s Story: Life History, Memory, and Political Identity, “This is a wonderful and rich collection that brings together essays from many of the most innovative scholars working on Peronism. It opens up new vistas not only for Argentine history, but for Latin American history overall and cultural history more generally. Its uniqueness and range make it especially valuable for classroom use, and, crucially, a point of entry for those outside Argentine history looking to gain a more nuanced understanding of this most resilient and chameleon-like political and cultural movement.”—Mark Alan Healey, University of California, Berkeley, “This is cultural history at its best. A group of innovative scholars sheds new light on what is arguably one of the most important sociopolitical and cultural phenomena in modern Latin America.”—Javier Auyero, author of Contentious Lives: Two Argentine Women, Two Protests, and the Quest for Recognition, “[A] fresh new study on a well-trodden topic. Revisiting the historiography of Peronism, the volume’s editors suggest that much of the theoretical confusion about Peronism comes from analytical studies which take a political or social focus as its main orientation, neglecting to consider the cultural side of Peronism.... While historians and social theorists looked at culture in the years of Peronism’s advance in power as consequential to class and political developments, this volume argues that culture was the base from which Peronism developed its appeal and through an examination of cultural aspects of the Peronist discourse and of the narrative of the new Argentinian state one can understand the development and shortcomings of Peronism.”, “Each piece stands as an excellent addition to the scholarship of this era; together, they provide any reader with a revealing insight into the actionsthe Peronists took to make sure that they would have a lasting legacy in every facet of Argentine life.”

Matthew B. Karush is Associate Professor of History and Director of Latin American Studies at George Mason University. He is the author of Workers or Citizens: Democracy and Identity in Rosario, Argentina, 1912–1930.Oscar Chamosa is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Georgia.