When "the descendants of the ships" began to mutate. Multicultural corporalities and sonorities in the Argentine bicentenary

Abstract

In this article we analyze the celebrations of the Argentine Bicentenary in 2010, and especially the historic-artistic parade organized by the group Fuerza Bruta in Buenos Aires. Our hypothesis states that this parade was one of the most important performances of the Cultural Policies during the last decade, for confronting the traditional identitarian imaginary of White-European origin of the Argentinians, associated to elites, and legitimating a new multicultural imaginary, associated to the popular. Furthermore, we emphasize the fundamental role of music, dance and theater for achieving the efficacy of this kind of festive rituals. For this, we analyze the ways in which these aesthetic expressions bring about intense senses and emotions that operate as powerful iconic and indexical meanings among participants. Thus, the cultural meanings and values that the ritual tries to legitimize become desirable: in this case, a new imaginary about the Argentine identity, through a festive ritual of national commemoration.