Performing Evita - A tale of two Peronist women

Based on the first ethnography of urban political clientelism ever carried out in Argentina, this paper focuses on the public performances of female p olitical broken belonging to the Peronist Party. Drawing on the analytical tools provided by cultural sociology and the anthropology of performance, t he paper explores the way in which brokers, through their presentation of t he self: attempt to foster impressions in their audiences and construct a p articular sociodicy of their social place. When appearing in public, broker s (as other politicians) have a plethora of motives for trying to control t he image the audience receives of the situation. The article examines some of the common techniques of impression-management utilized by the brokers i n front of their audience (mostly poor people), each time they grant a favo r, every time they hand out a food package or a needed medicine.