Four Days and Counting

Students and teachers concluded their last day of classes yesterday, so surely all eyes are on Argentina. Some of our students have checked in with Srta. Major and Sr. Sadtler regarding their presentations--Monday or Tuesday they will deliver to us, either face to face or electronically, the final draft of the presentations. Since we are scheduled to have an abundance of time at the gate awaiting our flight, any last minute finishing touches can be applied there.

Just last week I stumbled upon Argentina: Stories for a Nation. Perhaps I'm making a misstep by "judging a book by its back cover," but it seems like a thoughtful reflection on the world's perception of Argentina (through it's many storied personalities and well-publicized events) versus how it perceives itself (at least, how an American professor from the U. of Minnesota perceives how it perceives itself!) through an interpretation of its "myths and realities."

This from Amazon.com:

By the end of the twentieth century, Argentina’s complex identity-tango and chimichurri, Eva Perón and the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, the Falklands and the Dirty War, Jorge Luis Borges and Maradona, economic chaos and a memory of vast wealth-has become entrenched in the consciousness of the Western world [...] Kaminsky explores Argentina’s unique national identity and the place it holds in the minds of those who live beyond its physical borders [...] Kaminsky’s examination reveals how Europe consumes an image of Argentina that acts as a pivot between the exotic and the familiar. Going beyond the idea of suffocating Eurocentrism as a theory of national identity, Kaminsky presents an original and vivid reading of national myths and realities that encapsulates the interplay among the many meanings of “Argentina” and its place in the world’s imagination.

I wonder what can be gleaned from reading this book (a deliberate capturing of the outsider perspective) while traveling, and in our case, LIVING among the people that it proposes to portray! If only I'd found this book earlier. Or perhaps it's best to have found the book at the latest possible moment, so I can read it on a bench outside the Cafe Tortoni or on a bus ride through the farmland north of Buenos Aires. I'm assuming, of course, that by "Argentine," Kaminsky is mainly speaking of the "porteños," or natives of Buenos Aires.

If all goes by design, remaining blog posts will mostly be written by students. They will give you updates on their excursions throughout Buenos Aires, and eventually, they will paint a picture of daily life in Rafaela. Truth be known, we have no idea what they will do with it. This is intended to be their blog, and we plan on keeping it that way.

We look forward to seeing you all at the airport on Wednesday.