Beatriz Sarlo’s Escena de la vida postmoderna represents a turning point in literary studies, cultural studies, and media studies in Argentina. Originally published in 1994, it was a major, influential intervention on cultural and media questions that had not been central in literary studies, written by a well-known literary scholar. It represents a shift from “the book” to “the city” as a site of analysis and interpretation of cultural forms. Part urban critic, part flâneur, Sarlo is intrigued by the changing public spaces of Buenos Aires amid a new phase of late capitalism, marked by new forms of consumerism, visual culture, and entertainment. She dissects the meanings and dynamics of cultural expressions that transcend and challenge the power of the written word, and unearths a new Buenos Aires, increasingly dominated by screens, public gatherings in private spaces, youth subcultures, and art forms that echo new developments. The book stands as both a call to fellow literary scholars to foreground nonliterary forms of cultural production and engagement in their work, and as a representation of an important point of reference to “demediatize” the study of communication and meaning-making in order to comprehend the significance of public and popular urban sites.

Although Spanish-speaking lands are often imagined as lands of sexual intolerance, Buenos Aires is better characterized by ineffectual repression and by its recent celebration of sexual diversity. In this chapter we analyze sexuality in Buenos Aires against the backdrop of economic, socio-demographic, cultural, and political transformations that often undermined the regulations of authorities. The decades between 1880, when Buenos Aires became the capital, and the overthrow of President Juan Perón in 1955 were crucial for the formation of modern Argentina and constitute its focus. We begin with some preceding historical trends in the colonial and early independent era, and end with a succinct analysis of a few salient trends after 1955, especially those leading to Buenos Aires becoming a leader of LGBTQ+ rights in the twenty-first century. We discuss immigration, class differences in sexual behaviours, commercialized sex, sexual diversity with marica and homosexual identities, the rise of family sociability, and the push for sexual ‘normalcy’.

This chapter turns to the legendary “Road to Buenos Aires,” which was widely considered the most significant trafficking route of the era. This case study illustrates how both coercion and choice functioned in the discourse and practice of migratory prostitution. When French women made official statements to the police, they strategically employed themes common to the trafficking narrative, including coercion, victimhood, and abuse. Their personal correspondence with family, in contrast, expresses how moments of both exploitation and agency punctuated their lives. Letters describe tender ties with mothers, sisters, and goddaughters; how poverty and unhappiness marked their existence in France; the everyday trials of poor migrants abroad; and expressions of wonder at the first ocean crossing. The lives of French women oscillated between moments of profound vulnerability and perceived opportunity, as reflected in their experiences of migrating and selling sex.

This chapter is the third of three to consider Puccini’s travels, both for work and leisure. It examines Puccini’s travels beyond Europe, primarily to South and North America. South America was a vital outpost of Italian operatic culture, with a large expatriate Italian population. The chapter discusses how Puccini’s works were exported to the major opera houses of the region and his travels to supervise performances in Argentina and Uruguay. Drawing upon Puccini’s correspondence, the author pays detailed attention to the life Puccini would have experienced on board ship, travelling in some luxury, unlike the many poor Italians who were migrating to the Americas for economic reasons – including the composer’s own brother, Michele Puccini. The chapter also discusses Puccini’s travels to New York, where he could not speak the language and was troubled by the weather. The author argues that the vast hotels and ships encountered by Puccini on these trips had a bearing on the sense of epic space in some of his later operas, notably La fanciulla del West. The chapter concludes with a discussion of Puccini’s tour of Egypt in 1908.

This chapter addresses the evolution of the crime fiction genre in Latin America by examining the relationship between three of the continent’s major cities and three historical moments. The following case studies chosen are: Buenos Aires in the stories of Seis problemas para Don Isidro Parodi (Six Problems for Don Isidro Parodi, 1942) by Jorge Luis Borges and Adolfo Bioy Casares; Havana in Armando Cristóbal Pérez’s novel La ronda de los rubies (The Ring of Rubies, 1973); and Mexico City in Días de combate (Days of Combat, 1976) by Paco Ignacio Taibo II. The chapter traces a textual trajectory from Borges and Bioy’s parodic games with the English models of mystery fiction to Taibo’s scathing national questioning of the Mexican neo-crime fiction, passing through Cristóbal’s politically committed and Cuban revolutionary crime fiction. That trajectory demonstrates the flexibility of the crime fiction genre, which has allowed it to branch out and adapt to the literary needs of different authors and contexts in the period between 1930 and 1980 in Latin American literature.

Legal documents of the late colonial period enable us to understand how this agency was negotiated in domestic and public spaces and how black women became key protagonists in their struggle for respect and survival. This essay examines the case of two female slaves who lived in the port city of Santa María de los Angeles de Buenos Aires who were victims of physical abuse by two male acquaintances: resulting in death in one case and in a state of coma in the other. This chapter discusses how the recollection of events by both female slaves and their respective assailants transitioned from the public space to the official legal space of power. It analyzes how both women, prior to the end results of the physical abuse they suffered, fought for their right to be believed and respected especially when it came to their material bodies. In the context of my discussion, the body is understood as a vehicle for thought and action while simultaneously implicated in power relations and social order and disorder.

This chapter addresses the evolution of the crime fiction genre in Latin America by examining the relationship between three of the continent’s major cities and three historical moments. The following case studies chosen are: Buenos Aires in the stories of Seis problemas para Don Isidro Parodi (Six Problems for Don Isidro Parodi, 1942) by Jorge Luis Borges and Adolfo Bioy Casares; Havana in Armando Cristóbal Pérez’s novel La ronda de los rubies (The Ring of Rubies, 1973); and Mexico City in Días de combate (Days of Combat, 1976) by Paco Ignacio Taibo II. The chapter traces a textual trajectory from Borges and Bioy’s parodic games with the English models of mystery fiction to Taibo’s scathing national questioning of the Mexican neo-crime fiction, passing through Cristóbal’s politically committed and Cuban revolutionary crime fiction. That trajectory demonstrates the flexibility of the crime fiction genre, which has allowed it to branch out and adapt to the literary needs of different authors and contexts in the period between 1930 and 1980 in Latin American literature.

Carmen made its debut in the Spanish Americas when the local networks of opera were at their apex, with a constant stream of singers from Europe and a desire for new repertoires outside the main staples of Italian opera. In this chapter, considering sources from across the region, we discuss four layers of Carmen’s reception in the Americas. First, the reception of the opera beyond the stage, in the form of vocal scores, arrangements for military bands and isolated numbers. Second, the perception of Carmen as a French opera, and the way it served as a vehicle for French opera companies in the final decades of the nineteenth century. Third, the idea of Carmen as Spanish, and how different countries considered that hispanicity as part of their own culture and theatrical expectations. Finally, we discuss how the habanera in Carmen was perceived as part of a larger contemporary debate on the transatlantic popularity of the habanera as a musical genre, its origins, ethnicity and its moral and musical character.

Chapter 8 examines mobilization in three cases in Buenos Aires, where union support is strong. It also shows that when unions failed to support a neighborhood organization, residents shifted their strategy to experiential tools instead. The first two of the anti-displacement groups examined – the Movimiento de Ocupantes e Inquilinos Movement of Renters and Occupiers (MOI) and the Asamblea del Pueblo San Telmo – actually constitute official chapters in the national union, Central de Trabajadores de la Argentina (CTA). That link provided renters and squatters with exceptional organizational and mobilization resources. Despite this common linkage, the two organizations differed strategically. The MOI engaged in direct actions, rallies, occupations, and, above all, in extensive technocratic negotiations with authorities over Law 341 and its implementation. The Asamblea del Pueblo San Telmo, instead, focused on occupations and direct actions and pursued a strategy of subversive resistance, consciously serving a marginal population in order to discourage gentrification. In contrast, the Asamblea Parque Lezama lacked close institutional and political affiliation to unions, and, rather than resorting to militancy, it succeeded with experiential tools.

This chapter covers his business during the first period of his entrepreneurial activity, from 1924 to 1946, when he set up his trading and tramp shipping company. During these first 22 years, he was unknown to the public. The aim is to investigate Onassis’s activities in America as well as in Europe and to reveal the significance of the beginnings of his business. During this period Onassis advanced his career within the Greek maritime tradition established by the Vaglianos, but also led the way to break this tradition, re-invent it, and advance it further. He created the foundations of his Empire, with Buenos Aires as the basis of his entrepreneurial activities. In the 1920s based on his family business know-how and network he collaborated with his father and uncle in Greece, and with his first cousins in Argentina, to found a sound business of tobacco imports. In the 1930s, Onassis devoted himself into learning about Greek and Norwegian shipping methods and techniques and was able to expand and re-invent them. By 1940, he had made the choices that marked his path to global shipping: specialization in tanker shipping, offshore companies and flags of convenience