Playing the Provinces: Argentine Cultural Production and the Construction of National Identity, 1920–30

Between 1910 and 1930, hundreds of stage plays were written and performed each year by native-born Argentines, depicting the everyday milieu of Buenos Aires – a city experiencing rapid economic growth and high rates of immigration.  These plays noted the city’s changes, notably, in terms of stock characterizations of foreign immigrants.   In addition, a majority of the plays also contained at least one character who had migrated to Buenos Aires from one of the nation’s provinces.  These characters were almost always young men who had moved to Buenos Aires in pursuit of higher education.  They, however, inevitably fell “victim” to the decadent nightlife offered by the nation’s capital, being pulled towards the “sins” offered by cabarets, located on the city’s outskirts:  drinking, using morphine, womanizing, and gambling.  These characters were almost always depicted as naïve, wholesome youth, who were redeemable, if only they could break from the corrupting influence of Buenos Aires.             
            By focusing on the characters of provincials, this paper explores the role that the incipient mass culture, embodied by theatrical production, had in defining and renewing the nation’s identity after the major wave of immigration had ended.  An image of the nation’s capital and provinces that was largely generated by middle-class second generation men, it nonetheless, resonated with urban and provincial audiences of the 1920s.  This paper is most concerned with understanding how the image of the nation’s provinces was defined, performed and contested. How were these plays received in the provinces?  What was the relationship between provincial identity and national identity that was constructed in popular theatrical performances?  How did the construction of national identity in mass culture counter that generated by elite discourse?