Between the theatre and the street: Corporality and Peruvian immigrants in Buenos Aires

Abstract

The goal of this article is to explore, through bodily codes, the knowledge, possibilities and limits that a group of Peruvian immigrants find in Buenos Aires in the 1990s. Immigrants’ body language in relation to other social, national and cultural groups allows us to show how different ways of presenting Peruvian and Argentine identity are expressed in acting, talking, gesturing, walking, dressing or moving. An improvisation drama workshop, an etiquette workshop and interactions of Peruvian street vendors are privileged settings to study migratory processes using complex body performances as a heuristic tool.