Radio and the Gendered Soundscape: Women and Broadcasting in Argentina and Uruguay, 1930-1950

This book is a history of women, radio, and the gendered constructions of voice and sound in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Montevideo, Uruguay. Through the stories of five women and one radio station, this study makes a substantial theoretical contribution to the study of gender, mass media, and political culture and expands our knowledge of these issues beyond the US and Western Europe. Included here is a study of the first all-women’s radio station in the Western Hemisphere, an Argentine comedian known as ‘Chaplin in Skirts’, an author of titillating dramatic serials and, of course, Argentine First Lady ‘Evita’ Peron. Through the concept of the gendered soundscape, this study integrates sound studies and gender history in new ways, asking readers to consider both the female voice in history and the sonic dimensions of gender.