Cacerolazos and bibliotecas: reading, solidarity and public space after the 2001-2002 Argentine crisis

Abstract

This article demonstrates the role of reading in urban public space as one of the key factors in responding to economic and political crisis. After Argentina’s economic and political collapse in 2001-2002, neighborhood associations organized, along with cacerolazo protests, a solidarity economy that sponsored a number of community activities such as public literary readings and community libraries. Every neighborhood association had an active committee for cultural programming, revealing that literary activities such as readings and creative writing workshops were deemed as essential as food, clothing, housing, and medical care for weathering the crisis. Local residents channeled their anger and frustration with the political situation beyond the protests into rebuilding public engagement through direct democracy where literary reading in neighborhood plazas, parks, and occupied buildings played a consistently strong role. Framed with a discussion of Florencia Abbate’s novel El grito, this essay documents these groups’ dedication to making literary culture accessible to the public during a period of crisis.