Tango and the political economy of passion

308 Pages·1995·12.759 MB·English

by  Savigliano, Marta

INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURES OF FEELING
George Marcus, Sharon Traweek,
Richard Handler, and Vera Zolberg, Series Editors
Tango and the Political Economy of Passion Marta E. Savigliano
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Political Economy
of Passion
Westview Press
Boulder • San Francisco • ·Oxford
Institlilional Structures of Feeling
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and re
trieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Copyright © 1995 by Marta E. Savigliano
Published in 1995 in the United States of America by Westview Press, Inc., 5500 Central Avenue, Boulder,
Colorado 80301-2877, and in the United Kingdom by Westview Press, 36 Lonsdale Road, Summertown,
Oxford ox2 7EW
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Savigliano, Marta.
Tango and the political economy of passion I Marta E. Savigliano.
p. cm.-(lnstitutional structures of feeling)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8133-1637-5.-ISBN 0-8133-1638-3 (pbk.)
1. Tango (Dance)-Social aspects. 2. Tango (Dance)-Social -
a'pects-Argentina. 3. Sexuality in dance. I. Title. II. Series.
GV1796.T3528 1995
784.18'885-dc2o 94-32610
CIP
Prmted and bound in the United States of America
The paper used in this publication meets the requirements
of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials Z39.48-1984.
10 9 8 7 6
a mis abuelas
Angelica Martin de Savigliano y Etelvina Alvarez de Ahumada

Contents
List of Illustrations XI
Preface and Acknowledgments Xlll
1
Introductions
(On the Micropolitics of Introducing), 1
Introduction, 1
(On the Micropolitics of Reintroducing), 4
Reintroductions, 4
CHOREOCRITICAL PREVIEW: Political Economy of Passion, 10
Tango, My Tango, n
Tango, Method and Theory, 14
El Tango del Che, 17
Argentina and "Decolonization," 19
Argentina and Colonialism, 21
2
Tango as a Spectacle of Sex, Race, and Class 30
sCENE ONE: The Tango Embrace, 30
Rioplatense Roots, 32
Tango and the "Macho" Cult, 40
Positions for the Lady (La Milonguita,
or the Rebellious Broad), 48
scENE TWo: El Civico y La Moreira, so
Positions for the Gentleman (El Compadrito,
or the Whiny Ruffian), 61
Docile Bodies in Rebellion, 69
SCENE THREE: Tango on Power, 71
3
Tango and the Colonizing Gaze 73
SCENE FOUR: Eroticism, Exoticism, and the
Colonizing Gaze, 73
Manufacturing Exoticism, 83
Dance Masters and Spectacle Entrepreneurs, 95
Montmartre, Fin de Siecle, 100
ix