Construir Bicentenarios: Argentina

This book was prepared in order to advance discussions for the commemoration of the bicentennial of Argentina in 2010. It includes contributions from a group of historians, architects, philosophers, scientists, educators, public officials, social researchers, politicians and youth who are concerned about their nation and its future. It includes an essay by Cristina Kirchner, Argentina’s president, on how the bicentennial represents an historic opportunity to rethink Argentina.

The 31 contributions are presented in four sections. Three focus on the past, the present and the future of Argentina and are written by Argentineans. The authors include some who live abroad since, as the introduction notes, in the current world, national identities are more complex, unfolding from within and outside national territories, and exercising one’s Argentine identify does not require residency there. One section has contributions from non-Argentineans, including Arjun Appadurai, Abdou Maliq Simone, David Harvey and Jorge Wilheim. Each author responds to the invitation to write about problems, challenges, options, memories or expectations that could be generated by the bicentennial.

The introduction notes the celebrations that attended Argentina’s first centennial in 1910, which were undertaken with all the pomp that its leading and intellectual class was able to imagine and carry out. It celebrated the progress, the wealth and the potential of the republic. In 1910, events were organized in many of the country’s cities and public works were erected. The capital city, Buenos Aires, was the main setting for the celebrations and these included six large international and national exhibitions, numerous scientific conferences, receptions, parades, patriotic demonstrations, community festivals and sports competitions. Within the framework of the official celebrations and mass events, notable foreign visitors were received in Buenos Aires. Public squares were built and large and small monuments constructed, some presented by foreign communities and some commissioned by the national government. Among the works were the British Tower in Retiro, the public squares dedicated to France, Uruguay, Chile and Germany on Libertador Avenue, and the Monument to Spaniards where it crosses Sarmiento Avenue.

Many countries in Latin America are on the eve of the bicentennial of the emergence of the revolutionary movements that brought the colonial period to a close, with the exception of Haiti, which celebrated it in 2004. Ecuador and Bolivia will have their bicentennials in 2009; then Argentina, Chile and Mexico in 2010; and Venezuela and Paraguay in 2011. Colombia has decided to commemorate its bicentennial in 2019, with Peru and Guatemala celebrating theirs in 2021. To publish this book five years before the bicentennial helps stimulate discussion, debate and reflection on where Argentina is today and what future might be imagined and worked towards.