Ana María León - Modernity for the Masses: Antonio Bonet’s Dreams for Buenos Aires

Lateral Exchanges: Architecture, Urban Development, and Transnational Practices

A series edited by Felipe Correa, Bruno Carvalho, and Alison Isenberg

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MODERNITY FOR THE MASSES

ANTONIO BONETS DREAMS FOR BUENOS AIRES

Ana Maria Leon

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS PRESS

Austin

Copyright 2021 by the University of Texas Press

All rights reserved

First edition, 2021

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Leon, Ana Maria, author.

Title: Modernity for the masses : Antonio Bonets dreams for Buenos Aires /

Ana Maria Leon.

Description: First edition. | Austin : University of Texas Press, 2021. | Series: Lateral exchanges : architecture, urban development, and transnational practices | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020001529 (print) | LCCN 2020001530 (ebook)

ISBN 978-1-4773-2178-2 (cloth)

ISBN 978-1-4773-2179-9 (library ebook)

ISBN 978-1-4773-2180-5 (non-library ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Architecture and societyArgentinaBuenos AiresHistory20th century. | Unbuilt architectural projectsArgentinaBuenos AiresHistory20th century. | HousingPolitical aspectsArgentinaBuenos AiresHistory20th century. | Bonet Castellana, Antoni, 19131989Criticism and interpretation.

Classification: LCC NA2543.S6 L45 2020 (print) | LCC NA2543.S6 (ebook) | DDC 720.1/03dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020001529

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020001530

doi:10.7560/321782

CONTENTS

FIGURE 0.01. The hooves in the fountain. AR, AGN DDF/Consulta INV: 47810.

INTRODUCTION

The decisive weight of coloniality in the constitution of the European paradigm of modernity/rationality is clearly revealed in the actual crisis of that cultural complex.

ANBAL QUIJANO,

Coloniality and Modernity/Rationality,

Cultural Studies, Vol. 21, Nos. 23

March/May 2007

On October 17, 1945, thousands of union workers poured into the city center of Buenos Aires. These Porteos (citizens of Buenos Aires) came from the edges of the city, from the low-income neighborhoods of the periphery, and took over the downtown, converging on the Plaza de Mayothe main public square in front of the Casa Rosada, the Presidential Palace. These crowds demanded the liberation of a young general under arrest, Juan Domingo Pern, the only member of the ruling military dictatorship who had maintained close relationships with the workers unions. An iconic photograph captures their occupation of the plaza ( and also of the large migrations that contributed to the growth of the Buenos Aires periphery. Overwhelmed by the masses, the regime freed Pern, who subsequently ran for office and was elected president in 1946, ending years of conservative rule and changing the countryfrom a land ruled by the few to a land with a populist government addressed to the many.

Ten years after this episode, members of the Argentinian navy and air force bombarded Buenos Aires, targeting strategic locations including the Plaza de Mayo.