Argentina's Afro-Descendant Experiences under Juan Domingo Perón’s Leadership

Juan Domingo Perón is a pivotal figure in any analysis of cultural inclusion and national identity in twentieth-century Argentina. When he first rose to power in 1946 (Smith, 1969), following a military career and a brief term as Vice President and Secretary of Labour, Perón transformed Argentina's political landscape by championing a populist platform rooted in labour rights, expanded welfare, and a narrative of inclusive progress (Smith, 1969). His leadership emerged from the broader impacts of post–World War II transformation that swept across Latin America. This was a moment when many countries, including Mexico and Brazil, were navigating transitions toward industrialization, political reform, and new models of governance rooted in mass mobilization and cultural nationalism (Skidmore, 1993).

The political movement that came to define Perón’s ideology and legacy is known as Peronism. It blended nationalist rhetoric, working-class empowerment, state-led development, and charismatic leadership to form a unique and enduring political force (Grimson, 2017). It promised to bridge longstanding divisions between capital and labour, rural and urban, elite and popular sectors. Central to this vision was what Perón termed nacionalismo popular (popular nationalism), a discourse that celebrated the descamisado (shirtless one) as a symbolic citizen of the new Argentina (Plotkin, 2003).

“Authentic Criollo” Identity

One of the central pillars of Peronist cultural nationalism was the construction and promotion of an “authentic criollo” identity – a symbol that evoked a nostalgic image of the rural, hardworking, and morally upright Argentinian (Teichman, 2022). As Teichman explains, Perón frequently used this term as a coded call of whiteness and cultural homogeneity, avoiding direct references to race while implicitly framing national identity in Eurocentric terms (2022). In both official discourse and state-sponsored cultural production, this criollo ideal was rooted in the customs, values, and aesthetics of Argentina’s European immigrant population, particularly those of Spanish and Italian origin (Andrews, 2010). Karush demonstrates how Peronist media, education, and popular culture further reinforced this identity by celebrating "native" traditions that were selectively defined to reflect white, Catholic, and Western ideals (2004). In doing so, Perón offered symbolic inclusion to rural migrants and the working class but only insofar as they could be absorbed into this Europeanized narrative of national belonging (Elena, 2011).

This redefinition of Argentineness came at the expense of Afro-descendant and Indigenous communities, whose cultural legacies were sidelined or omitted entirely. As Solomianski (2003) argues, the Peronist state created a “discursive frontier” that marked Afro-Argentine contributions as peripheral to the national story. The rich cultural history of Afro-Argentines, including their foundational role in music, militias, and early republican life, was rendered invisible by a regime that equated cultural authenticity with whiteness (Geler, 2016). Perón's celebration of the criollo did not represent a truly inclusive nationalism rather, it was a racialized construct that skewed diversity in favour of a mythic, homogeneous past (Elena, 2011). This myth allowed the Peronist state to present itself as unifying while reinforcing deep-seated exclusions, recasting Argentine identity in terms that erased its Black and Indigenous dimensions.

Educational and Cultural Policies

Perón’s administration invested significantly in education as part of its broader project of national modernization and popular uplift. Under his rule, state institutions expanded access to schooling for the working class, integrated patriotic themes into curricula, and promoted a shared sense of Argentine identity rooted in the values of labour, unity, and progress (Plotkin, 2002; Elena, 2011). However, this expansion relied on a deeply selective memory of the nation’s past.

School textbooks, historical narratives, and cultural programming systematically downplayed or erased the contributions of Afro-Argentines to Argentina’s formation. Educational and cultural materials emphasized the "civilizing" role of European immigrants, especially those originating from Spain and Italy, who were portrayed as the true founders of modern Argentina (Geler, 2010). This Eurocentric vision supported the state’s effort to force a culturally homogeneous national identity, one that erased racial and ethnic diversity in the name of cohesion and its benefits (Garguin, 2007).

This erasure was not accidental. As Elena (2011) and Anderson & Gomes (2021) note, the Afro-Argentine past was actively overwritten by a narrative that positioned Argentina as a “white” nation, where racial homogeneity symbolized modernity and progress by the association it created with Europe. Afro-Argentine figures of the independence era, Black regiments, and African-rooted cultural forms like candombe were intentionally omitted from textbooks and national commemorations (Geler, 2010). These silences turned schools and broader state-sponsored cultural spaces into powerful sites of ideological formation, where the very idea of an Afro-Argentine identity was rendered invisible or irrelevant.

Spatial Segregation

While Perón’s promoted cultural nationalism as a cornerstone of his populist state, the version of “Argentine culture” that the government officially endorsed was highly curated, and deeply racialized (Garguin, 2007). Cultural policy under Peronism went beyond passive neglect of non-European traditions, it actively redefined Argentina’s popular heritage through a lens of whiteness. State institutions like the Secretariat of Culture and the Ministry of Education played key roles in producing and circulating content that emphasized a sanitized, Europeanized vision of Argentine identity (Plotkin, 2003). One of the most striking examples of this is the regime’s rebranding of tango, a genre with unmistakably originated from Afro-Argentinians and the working class (Garguin, 2007). Under Perón, tango was transformed into a respectable, middle-class art form, stripped of its Black and marginalized roots and instead linked to Argentina’s European ancestry (Karush, 2016).

This cultural whitening process was both symbolic and political. By reimagining the tango as a Europeanized symbol of national pride, the state reinforced the idea that Blackness and popular culture were incompatible with modern, civilized nationhood. Other Afro-Argentine musical traditions like candombe were almost entirely excluded from state-sponsored events and media, viewed as remnants of a pre-modern or “uncivilized” past (Solomianski, 2003; Garguin, 2007). These exclusions were not merely aesthetic choices, they were ideological acts that helped construct a national narrative in which African cultural contributions were erased, denied, or devalued. Cultural whitening under Perón thus worked hand-in-hand with educational, political, and statistical mechanisms to reinforce a Eurocentric model of the Argentine nation, narrowing the definition of cultural legitimacy and marginalizing the very traditions that had once defined the country’s urban popular life.

Media Representation

Under Juan Domingo Perón, the Argentine state exercised strong control over mass media to promote national integration and Peronist ideology (Elena, 2017). However, this control also enabled the widespread dissemination of racialized stereotypes that marginalized Afro-Argentines. In state-endorsed newspapers, radio, and films, Blackness was often either erased or depicted through tropes associating dark skin with criminality, servility, or comedic inferiority, echoing 19th-century discourses that excluded Afro-descendants from modern nationhood (Andrews, 1989). These portrayals were not incidental but part of a broader cultural project that reinforced white superiority.

The media’s reach across rural and urban audiences helped embed racial prejudice into everyday life. As Elena (2017) notes, Afro-Argentines were often framed as invisible or as threats to social order, contributing to a form of cultural denial that excluded them from full national belonging. By shaping public perceptions through a racialized media lens, the Peronist regime normalized anti-Blackness and further entrenched Afro-descendants as outsiders to Argentine identity

Political Exclusion

Despite Peronism’s emphasis on broadening political participation for the working class, the regime remained fundamentally exclusive when it came to race and representation (Anderson & Gomes, 2021). While Perón succeeded in integrating large segments of white and mestizo workers into the political mainstream through mechanisms such as the CGT (General Confederation of Labor), Afro-descendant communities were largely shut out of these structures. Their political invisibility was not a product of demographic insignificance but of systemic racial exclusion embedded in the national narrative of homogeneity (Otero, 1997). Peronist populism promoted the image of the descamisado as the symbolic subject of the new Argentina, but this figure was implicitly racialized as white or non-Black (Plotkin, 2003).

The consequences of this exclusion were significant. Without representation in key political, union, or cultural decision-making bodies, the needs and experiences of Afro-Argentines were structurally ignored. As Reed (2020) notes, political exclusion translated directly into policy neglect: no targeted social programs addressed the unique barriers faced by Afro-descendant communities in education, healthcare, or employment. Moreover, the absence of Afro-Argentine officials in government reinforced the dominant narrative that they no longer “existed” as a social group, perpetuating the myth of Black disappearance (Garguin, 2007). This created a vicious cycle in which invisibility created further exclusion, allowing the Peronist state to appear inclusive and egalitarian while maintaining deep racial hierarchies beneath the surface (Anderson & Gomes, 2021). In this sense, political exclusion was not just a byproduct of Perón’s racial ideology, it was a core feature of how that ideology was implemented and sustained.

Social Welfare Programs

Juan Domingo Perón’s administration is widely credited with establishing one of the most ambitious social welfare systems in Latin American history. His government expanded access to healthcare, education, pensions, maternity benefits, and housing, especially for working-class Argentines (Smith, 1969). However, while these programs were often described as universal, they were implemented through a colour-blind lens that ignored the specific barriers faced by racialized populations, particularly Afro-Argentines (Anderson & Gomes, 2021). Peronist social policy emphasized class but was largely silent on race, assuming that all poor or working-class Argentines shared the same needs and experiences (Plotkin, 2003). As Reed (2020) and Elena (2017) both demonstrate, this failure to collect or analyze race-based data made it impossible to measure the actual reach or equity of these programs across racial lines. Afro-descendant communities, therefore, remained structurally underserved, even within a political regime committed to social inclusion in principle.

In practice, Afro-Argentine populations consistently received inferior access to state resources and public services. Structural racism, compounded by their exclusion from political representation and statistical invisibility, meant that Afro-Argentines were less likely to benefit from housing subsidies, healthcare infrastructure, or school reforms targeted at the working poor (Garguin, 2007). For example, public housing projects often prioritized neighbourhoods aligned with organized labour or Peronist party structures, which rarely overlapped with the marginalized and informally housed communities where Afro-Argentines resided (Elena, 2017). Similarly, healthcare campaigns and educational outreach often bypassed peripheral areas stigmatized as sites of criminality or disorder, areas disproportionately inhabited by racialized populations. Without mechanisms to track these disparities, the state was able to project an image of egalitarianism while failing to acknowledge the racialized inequities that persisted within the very systems it claimed were inclusive. This contradiction underscores the limitations of Peronist welfare policy and exposes how racial exclusion can endure even under regimes that purport to serve the marginalized.

Reinforcement of the “Disappearing Black” Narrative

One of the most powerful and enduring tools of racial exclusion in mid-20th century Argentina was the propagation of the myth that Afro-Argentines had largely “disappeared” from the national landscape (Anderson & Gomes, 2021). Under Juan Domingo Perón, this narrative was not only left unchallenged, it was reinforced through state-sanctioned cultural production, including political speeches, educational content, and propaganda films such as Fin de semana (1950), which portrayed Argentine society as uniformly white and modern (Elena, 2017). The absence of Black characters or historical figures in state-backed cultural media was often interpreted not as a problem to be addressed, but as evidence that Afro-Argentine populations had either ceased to exist or assimilated into invisibility. This ideological erasure was part of a broader discursive framework that celebrated racial homogeneity as a marker of national progress, aligning Argentina with a Westernized, European self-image (Garguin, 2007).

This process, often referred to by scholars as a form of discursive genocide, worked by not merely denying Afro-Argentine presence but by invalidating their relevance to the modern nation (Solomianski, 2003). Through silence, omission, and sanitized histories, the Peronist regime constructed a cultural memory in which Afro-Argentines had no meaningful role to play. They didn't need to take steps against inclusion, but prioritized a lack of discourse by pushing a homogenized working class (Anderson & Gomes, 2021). By erasing Afro-descendant contributions to foundational moments, such as independence, the formation of national music genres, and urban labour movements, the state rationalized their continued marginalization. In public memory, Afro-Argentines became historical footnotes, rather than active participants in Argentine modernity. This narrative provided ideological cover for Perón’s refusal to engage with racial inequality in a systematic way, allowing the regime to project an image of national unity while perpetuating structural exclusion. The “disappearing Black” myth remains one of the most persistent barriers to Afro-Argentine recognition today, and its roots lie squarely in the cultural and political logic consolidated during Peronism.

Argentina is located in southern South America, featuring an extensive coastline along the Atlantic Ocean and diverse landscapes, such as the Andes mountains and the Pampas plains. Ranking as the eighth largest country in the world by land area, Argentina covers approximately 2.78 million square kilometres, equally recognized as the second largest country on the continent. With a population surpassing 45 million inhabitants (United Nations, 2024), Argentina historically presents diversity within its social culture.

This segment will explore the statistical and historical dimensions of Argentina's population, with a particular emphasis on the Afro-descendant communities as they have been systematically marginalized. In addition, the analysis highlights the period of Juan Perón's leadership due to his influential role in Argentina. These elements will provide a detailed understanding of Argentina's demographic composition and the socio-political context that has influenced its development.

In 1778, an examination was conducted on the population of Buenos Aires, known as the Visita General. This report classified the Buenos Aires population into five separate racial categories; spaniards, índios, mestizos, mulattos, and blacks. The results of this Visita General reported that 65% of the population was Spaniards, 2% Índios, 3% was identified as Mestizos, 13% Mulattos, and lastly, 17% of Afro-descent. (Wainer, 2023) These statistics reflect a significant Afro-descendant presence in the urban population during the late colonial period.

Afro-Argentines continued to represent a considerable demographic segment into the 19th century, with municipal census data of Buenos Aires showing that Black Argentines comprised approximately 30% of the population in 1810, 25% in 1822, and 20% by 1827. However, this population underwent a sharp demographic decline by the late 19th century, dropping to just 1.8% by 1887. (Andrews, 1980).

Beginning with Argentina’s first official national census in 1869 and extending to the census published in 2001, there was no classification of ethnic groups. It was only in 2001 that the report introduced an ethnic variable, which included a question about Indigenous descent and ancestry. Notably, this census did not recognize African heritage in Argentina (Rocha & Aspinall, 2020). The year 2010 marked a significant milestone as it was the first national census since the nineteenth century to include a category for Afro-descendants. According to the 2010 national census, approximately 97.2% of the population identified as European or mestizo, 2.4% as Indigenous, and 0.4% as Afro-descendants (Central Intelligence Agency, 2025).

The attempt to erase the Afro-Argentines from the country’s population had profound consequences on the vulnerable social group. Throughout the nineteenth century, they experienced high infant mortality rates and demographic instability, often being pushed into marginalized areas like Monserrat. These geographic locations were dehumanizing, “overrun by thieves, prostitutes, and underworld characters” (Andrews, 1980). George Reid Andrews, a well-known author from the twentieth century, explained that conventillos initially emerged in Monserrat, a small district in Buenos Aires, describing them as being a part of  “black neighbourhoods” and “lower-class housing” (Andrews, 1980).

Additionally, the government’s promotion of European immigration to improve Argentina reinforced the idea that non-European groups were undesirable or backward. During Perón's era, Argentina's official stance on race supported a homogenizing national identity that ignored the presence and contributions of Afro-descendants, rendering them politically and culturally invisible (Rocha & Aspinall, 2020). This contrasts with Brazil’s model of racial democracy, which, although problematic, at least publicly acknowledged race.