Discourse of Argentinity at the turn of the century

Times of crisis are something usual in Argentina. Democratic transition, after last dictatorial political regime, was a path with many pitfalls. Times were not promising. Lack of sustained economic growth led to recurring periods of social and political instability, questioned the legitimacy of governments without ever breaking the constitutional order. The eighties were marked by threats of military uprisings, the economic paralysis, the uncontrolled hyperinflation and state inefficiency. At early nineties economic recovery provided some social welfare, but soon neoliberal politics was accompanied by rising poverty and unemployment. The turn of the century the Argentines were found wrapped in a crisis unprecedented socioeconomic, what also affected the modes self-representation of society. In fact, the crisis of 2001 generated a set of discussions that took the ‘nation’ as a referent unit, attracted the interest of large segments of intellectuality toward the analysis of common culture and history review (theme that follow to be of great interest today). Therefore, a lot of discourse about Argentinity burst in the public sphere, because in Argentine the appeal to the nation has become a privileged argument to understand the situations of political and social unrest, and a coin of change from political struggle.  

The aim of this paper is to explore the process of cultural production which involves narratives of national identification as a way of imagining the political community, their social divisions, key problems and projects of future society. I will analyze some relevant intellectuals and public narratives in the context of social and political turmoil at the turn of the century, taking into account the different discursive strategies through which were promotes and legitimizes political action.