Heterogeneous temporalities in the interpretations of the Argentine crisis of 2001: event, experience, phantasm

Abstract

Twenty years after 2001, this article reviews a corpus of interpretations from social sciences about the Argentine crisis of 2001, with focus on the heterogeneous temporalities implicit in the various interpretations of the events. The corpus review is structured around three themes: first, the tension between the exceptional nature of the event and its inscription in a historical process; second, the experiences of crisis; third, the symbolic dimension of the crisis as a phantasm that influences the present. The crisis of 2001 has been interpreted as a turning point in recent Argentine past, and as an essential reference within a genealogy of the present. The analysis of the corpus shows that various temporalities overlap in the events of 2001: this heterogeneity contributes to explain why 2001 is still a present past in Argentina, despite the increasing distance from those events. Understanding that persistence requires as well to deconstruct the myth of the “eternal crisis” of the nation.