International Histories of Consumer Culture in Argentina /the River Plate

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

In recent years, a number of new studies have examined Latin American national histories in terms of consumer culture, particularly the role of that culture in the construction of local identities. This panel offers a contribution to this turn in the historiography by exploring the international dimensions of consumer culture in Argentina and the River Plate region. Works examine the role of transnational consumer culture in immigration histories, regional identities, and international relations. By focusing on topics such as consumer activism, politics, class relations and identity, and women’s role in consumer activities, the papers suggest that the international movements of goods played a role in the constitution of national, regional and global identities on the ground.

Sub Track

• Mass Media and Popular Culture

Session Organizer

• Cecilia Tossounian, Universidad de San Andrés

Chair

• Lisa A Ubelaker Andrade, Universidad De San Andrés

Discussant

• Diego C Armus, Swarthmore College

Individual Presentations

• Consuming Yerba Mate in the City: Histories of Belonging in the Modern Río de la Plata - Rebekah E Pite, Lafayette College

• Popular Pan-Americanism and the Idea of the Middle Class: Consumer Culture as International Relations in Argentina, 1938-1949 - Lisa A Ubelaker Andrade, Universidad De San Andrés

• Italians, Gender and Consumer Culture: Constructing Ethnic Identities in Buenos Aires - Cecilia Tossounian, Universidad de San Andrés