University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository Anthropology ETDs Electronic Theses and Dissertations 7-1-2013 Soy Gaucho: Nationalism and Modernity in Argentina Geneva Smith Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/anth_etds Part of the Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Smith, Geneva. "Soy Gaucho: Nationalism and Modernity in Argentina." (2013). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/anth_etds/63 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Anthropology ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. i Geneva Smith Candidate Anthropology Department This thesis is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication: Approved by the Thesis Committee: Les Field, Chairperson Ronda Brulotte Lindsay Smith Cristobal Valencia ii “SOY” GAUCHO NATIONALISM AND MODERNITY IN ARGENTINA BY Geneva M. L. Smith B.A., FRENCH STUDIES, SMITH COLLEGE, 2004 M.A., ANTHROPOLOGY, THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, 2013 THESIS Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Anthropology The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico July 2013 iii “SOY” GAUCHO NATIONALISM AND MODERNITY IN ARGENTINA by Geneva M. L. Smith B.A., FRENCH STUDIES, SMITH COLLEGE, 2004 M.A., ANTHROPOLOGY, THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, 2013 ABSTRACT Set in rural Argentina, debates over cultural recognition, land rights, and economic opportunity have been waged throughout the country’s history. By lodging the analysis in Argentina’s rural zones, this project examines the series of neoliberal economic policies that led to a widespread shift to agricultural biotechnology, the ensuing social effects including urbanization due to decreasing rural labor opportunities, and the potential for new or hybridized political economies in the form of post-neoliberalism that have emerged out of Argentina’s devastating 2001 economic crisis.