Cultural representations of Rio de la Plata rural women: the “china” in the travellers accounts of nineteen century

Abstract

The article analyses the influence of some of the main accounts and their cultural
representations about Rio de la Plata rural women in the first part of nineteen century. These
cultural representations are crucial in understanding the construction of the Nation and the State and the specific boundaries of inclusion/exclusion in this process. Rural women were
excluded from the national project because of considerations of gender, race and place. These
considerations were also crucial in the consolidation of the traditional nineteen century
Argentinian opposition civilisation and barbarism.