“Un bello ejemplo”: literatura infantil y niños trabajadores en la Argentina peronista, 1940-1950

Abstract

This article explores the representations and experiences linked to male child labor in the city of Buenos Aires based on the analysis of the Mundo Infantil magazine, published between 1949 and 1955 by the Peronist government. Our hypothesis is that the prolonged participation of boys, girls and “muchachos” in formal and informal labor markets throughout the 20th century was not due solely to socioeconomic factors, but also to the vast and prolonged social circulation of positive representations of child labour, hence the interest in an approach to this object through massively consumed cultural products, such as children's magazines. In more specific terms, in this article we will prove that, during the 1940s and 1950s, Mundo Infantil presented the work of children from the popular sectors as a common, desirable and even commendable practice. Longstanding traditions, coupled with specific elements of Peronist imagery and discourse, came together to shape these representations.