Descamisado(s), descamisada(s). Word and Concept during Peronism

Abstract

The article examines the circumstances that surrounded the introduction and use, in the Peronist context, shortly after 1945, of the voice descamisado (shirtless) –existing in Romance at least since the year 1304, when scamiciati was a synonym for “naked”, as evidenced in a sermon given in Florence– and the hesitations the term inspired in the movement´s leader, in contrast to the enthusiasm of Eva Duarte, the true driving force behind its imposition. It discusses the ideological distortions and manipulations it underwent at the time, among which we find religious undertones and racist assertions giving preferment to soi-disant native values over what was deemed “foreign” and “opposed to Argentinity”. It also studies the confusion that existed between descamisados and people; the visual images intended to exalt the figure of the descamisado, and, finally, its echoes in the Montonero guerrilla where a hit squad apparently depended on a journal that carried its name.