Christopher Columbus and Juana Azurduy: Revising and Revisiting Historical Monuments in Argentina

Abstract

This article examines the recent disputed, intertwined re-sitings of Arnaldo Zocchi’s Monument to Christopher Columbus (1910) and Andrés Zerneri’s Monument to Juana Azurduy (2015) in Buenos Aires. It analyzes issues of commissioning and political motivation in President Kristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s call to remove the Columbus monument and the resulting backlash by civil society groups. The intervention by a head of state to uproot a monument dedicated to the Genovese navigator is just one of many ways in which distinct approaches to the legacy of Columbus is addressed in the transnational public sphere. This study will also consider the lack of memorials dedicated to women and First Nations in public space.