A Nation of Flesh: Cattle and Meat Representations in Argentina After 2001

https://doi.org/10.25058/20112742.n31.08

Valeria Meiller
Orcid ID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5403-8130
Georgetown University, USA
vm398@georgetown.edu

Abstract:

This article analyses the inscription of cattle and meat in argentinean post 2001 cultural representations. My main argument is that, despite the statement that says that modernity and then capitalism have stripped animals of every form of agency (Berger 1980), instances in which those paradigmes enter a crisis allow the animal to re-enter historical and cultural networks in a significant way. In order to prove this, in the first section, I briefly analyze the foundational piece The Slaughterhouse by Esteban Echeverría in relationship to the convoluted times at the beginning of the nation. I then turn to literary text and visual representations post 2001 to see how, following Echeverría’s model of representation, the nation continued to reflect upon its identity through the inscription of animals in moments of social, economic, and political instability.

Keywords: Argentina, 2001 Crisis, cattle, meat, national identity.