Rethinking Whiteness and Racial Homogeneity in Argentina during the Neoliberal Crisis: An Assessment of Critical Approaches through Literature, Film, Art and Popular Music

The crisis suffered by Argentina at the turn of the 21st Century as a result of a series of neoliberal reforms has been the subject of substantial academic scrutiny. However, despite the vast quantity of studies on the crisis, no comprehensive investigation has been produced on the ways in which it impacted on established notions of racial identity. This thesis demonstrates that concerns with nationness and national belonging, which were ignited by the perceived ‘Latin Americanisation’ of Argentina in economic terms, were also crystallised through the use of racial language. The original contribution of this thesis is to show – through the analysis of the cultural production of the period – that the crisis contributed to the emergence of manifold discourses that engaged critically with Argentina’s historical narratives of whiteness and racial homogeneity. These narratives were influential in the definition of national identity throughout the 20th Century, especially amongst the middle class, but have been the subject of increasing contestation in recent years. This study shows that these contemporary debates on race are not solely the result of the global rise of multiculturalism, but have also been framed by the cultural and ideological impact of the crisis. Furthermore, it demonstrates that these two issues are tightly clustered and, at times, enter into symbiotic relationships. This thesis adopts a multidisciplinary approach that looks at examples from literature, film, art and popular music, and considers diverse representations of whiteness and non-whiteness rather than focusing on one specific form of racialised identity (i.e. white, indigenous, Afro-descendant). The analysis addresses how artworks exposed the naturalised status of whiteness as the racial norm, signified middle-class racism towards immigrants and slum-dwellers, and identified continuities and ruptures with Argentina’s historical racial politics. Through this wide-ranging evaluation of the link between financial meltdown and critical discourses of race, this thesis aims to cast light on this previously side-lined aspect of the crisis.