Modernity, urban cultures and popular sectors in a marginal space of Argentina (La Pampa, 1882-1951)

PAULA INÉS LAGUARDA

Lisboa

Otro; II Lisbon Summer School for the Study of Culture "Peripheral Modernities"; 2012

The Lisbon Consortium

Urban cultural practices in Latin America between the late nineteenth and early twentieth century have been widely analyzed. However, academic literacy has given priority to capitals and major cities. Taking theoretical approaches to the study of peripheral modernities as a starting-point, my research work is focused on exploring the margins, those areas away from major urban centers which have been so far neglected. In these spaces, the boundaries between modern and traditional practices are fuzzy, and the very notion of urban cultures requires to be questioned in light of a complexity of social, economic, political and cultural factors that this paper is intended to point out. This reflection will be directly related to a postdoctoral research project I am conducting in my country, entitled ?Popular sectors, urban cultures and cultural consumption in La Pampa? and funded by the National Council of Scientific and Technical Research of Argentina (CONICET). It analyzes entertainment practices and cultural consumption of popular sectors in La Pampa (Argentina, 1882-1951), in relation to the process of formation of urban cultures in a context of doubly peripheral modernity (periphery of the periphery).