Argonautas. Journal of Education and Social Sciences

Communication, cultural and digital inequalities in Argentina and Latin America during and after the pandemic

Natalia Traversaro — 2025-11-28

With the aim of disseminating recent research findings and maintaining a critical and up-to-date debate on inequalities in communicational, cultural, and digital rights in Argentina, Argonautas journal, together with RAICCED, brings together a series of works dedicated to analyzing these inequalities during the recent COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic period. This effort is grounded in a theoretical-political perspective that conceives communication, culture, and connectivity as human rights and, therefore, regards the elimination of the asymmetries that arise in their exercise as key challenges for democratic societies.

Review of the book “Feminisms in Communication: Media, Networks and Artivism in the Heat of the Fourth Wave” compiled by Eva Rodríguez Agüero and Natalia Encinas (2020)

María Florencia Guardia — 2025-11-28

This compilation is part of Communication and Gender Studies, which offers readers a possible overview of the dissemination of feminist activism and the use of communication tools as a means of contesting the dominant representations of the time. Over the past ten years, in Argentina, the demands of the feminist movement have circulated strongly in the public and digital space. The book “Feminismos en la comunicación: Medios, Redes y Artivismo al calor de la cuarta ola” compiled by Eva Rodríguez Agüero y Natalia Encinas (2020), presents, on the one hand, the feminist interventions enunciated between 2016 and 2020, such as the debates over the Ley de Acceso a la Interrupción Voluntaria del Embarazo (2020), reports of femicides, as well as the questioning of gender mandates. On the other hand, articles in this issue reconstruct the constellations of performance through which these feminist statements were transmitted, such as fiction on streaming platforms, the coverage of femicides in major national newspapers, artistic interventions in the streets, and their replication in virtual space.

The persistence of obstacles: the right to communication in the emergency of a pandemic and a past present

María del Rosario Millán — 2025-11-28

This paper identifies the perceptions and assessments of actors in the public and private, and profit and nonprofit sectors regarding obstacles to exercising the right to communication during the pandemic and post-pandemic period (2020-2024). Our hypothesis is that these obstacles have worsened in recent years, which is especially evident in relation to media concentration, the difficulties in media sustainability, the precariousness of employment and working conditions for workers, the circulation of misinformation, along with restrictions and risks to press freedom. The study covers six Argentine regions: Northwest Argentina (NOA), Northeast Argentina (NEA), Cuyo, Central Argentina, Patagonia, and Metropolitan Argentina. The perceptions and assessments of various social actors were analyzed based on a purposive sample comprised of semi-structured interviews conducted by our team with representatives from the public sector, the for-profit private sector, and the private socio-community sector. The work is part of a research project conducted by the Argentine Network of Researchers in Communication and Culture with a Rights-Based Approach (RAICCED, for its acronyms in Spanish).

La Plata radio stations during the pandemic: Analysis of three experiences from a Human Rights perspective (2019-2022)

Clarisa Inés Fernández — 2025-11-28

This paper studies access to and exercise of communication rights between 2019 and 2022, based on the analysis of three community, public, and private radio stations in the city of La Plata (Buenos Aires province, Argentina). Using a qualitative methodology that included semi-structured interviews (virtual and face-to-face) and documentary analysis strategies, the authors analyzed dimensions related to inequalities in the exercise of communication rights, obstacles to their fulfillment, and the public policies that emerged during that period to guarantee these rights. We conclude that the pandemic deepened inequalities regarding the enjoyment of diverse content in the local radio scene, while maintaining the centrality of communication in the hands of multimedia companies, even though audiences strengthened their ties to the three stations analyzed. In the absence of public policies aimed at community and private radio stations, we observed that stations with an institutionalized track record and ties to networks and regional and federal organizations had greater resources to cope with the pandemic. Obstacles to the exercise of communication rights are linked to the regressive policies implemented during previous years as well as to the lack of specific subsidies for the sector. As emerging markets, we observe transformations in work logic, especially in the production and broadcasting arenas, some of which are part of current routines.

Cultural rights in Argentina 2020-2023. Policies, inequalities, and obstacles conditioning their fulfillment

Ignacio Daniel Ratier — 2025-11-28

This article analyzes the exercise of cultural rights in Argentina between 2020 and 2023, addressing the policies implemented, persistent inequalities, and obstacles hindering their full fulfillment. Since cultural rights are fundamental human rights and their universalization a key objective, we emphasize the active role of the State to promote and guarantee them. These rights have been historically underestimated, and significant inequities persist in the production and circulation of cultural goods and services, resulting in power and access asymmetries that limit cultural participation. Methodologically, a qualitative and comparative study was conducted in six regions of Argentina, through the analysis of public sources and 45 interviews with key stakeholders from public, private, and civil society sectors. The results indicate that the most frequent mentions refer to "Cultural policies (non-state) promoted by various agents of the cultural sector" and "Inequalities in participation in cultural production based on the conditions of cultural employment." Other findings reveal how the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated precariousness and informality in the cultural sector, prompting the formation of community associations and networks as efficient responses to the lack of state mediation.

Comparative study of inequalities and digital policies in Argentina before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic

Emiliano Venier — 2025-12-11

This article presents a national study on the perceptions of local representatives from the state, market, and social and community organizations regarding access to digital rights in Argentina before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This study was conducted within the framework of the Argentine Network of Researchers in Communication and Culture with a Focus on Rights (RAICCED, for its acronyms in Spanish). The analysis was based on information collected through interviews with key informants from six regions of Argentina (Northwest, Northeast, Center, Cuyo, Metropolitan, and Patagonia) and is structured according to the axes of inequalities, implemented policies, and obstacles that have hindered the full exercise and enjoyment of digital rights during the different periods mentioned. The research concludes that without state intervention, digital divides not only perpetuate but worsen. Digital equity cannot be resolved solely by the market. It is essential to rebuild a public policy framework that integrates state, private, and social actors based on rights.

The streaming landscape in Argentina: Jobs, content production, and rights at stake

Victoria Batiston — 2025-11-28

The article analyzes recent changes in the organization of work and production in digital media, focusing on the spread of streaming channels in Argentina, based on a comparison between what is happening in the capital of the country and in the different provinces. The investigation raises questions about the characteristics of the audiovisual formats that are emerging with a broader impact on their organizational structures, media management, the tasks performed, and content creation in a country with a highly centralized media landscape. It analyzes the new inequalities and rights affected, investigating the experiences that workers have had with media and platforms, particularly with regard to YouTube as the main intermediary for content. The study is based on a preliminary map of Argentine streaming, an exploratory survey, and two focus groups with workers in the sector to analyze the characteristics of media productions; algorithmic content management and control by platforms; the conditions imposed on channels and the possibilities offered to monetize productions; and finally, labor rights within a concentrated ecosystem that so far offers few opportunities and guarantees for work.

Reconfigurations of popular communication in convergence: an approach to alternative internet experiences in Brazil

Florencia Agostina Guzmán — 2025-11-28

The article explores the reconfigurations of popular communication in Brazil within the context of digital convergence, focusing on alternative Internet experiences that resist the logics of monopolistic digital platforms. It examines how digitalization, first, and later platformization have transformed the distribution of power within communication systems and cultural industries, as well as the emergence of diverse actors in the current scenario. The study combines the framework of Political Economy of Communication with the Latin American tradition of Popular and Alternative Communication to map who inhabits and constitutes these renewed zones of resistance. It identifies three key levels of organization: the development of the Brazilian free software movement; the associative networks that build community connectivity infrastructure; and the organizations mobilized around demands for the protection of civil rights online and the democratic regulation of the Internet. Methodologically, this exploratory-descriptive study draws on primary sources —especially semi-structured interviews conducted with key academic and social movement actors in Brazil— as well as a wide range of secondary sources, including official documents from social movements, journalistic notes by popular Internet advocates, and information from their websites. Ultimately, the paper highlights that these initiatives offer original and creative technological solutions while simultaneously representing a political and social alternative grounded in the power of knowledge born from lived experience.

Poetics of Emergency: Vulnerability and Cultural Rights in Latin American Digital Anthologies during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Andrea Puchmüller — 2025-11-28

This article analyzes Latin American literary fictions that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, aiming to reflect on literature as a symbolic inscription of vulnerability and as an exercise of the cultural right to narrate and contest meanings. From a hermeneutic approach, it examines three collections —Bitácora de la intimidad (Argentina), Historias de cuarentena (Argentina), and Primera línea (Mexico)— considering their testimonial, aesthetic, and political dimensions. The theoretical framework articulates the contributions of Judith Butler (2006, 2016) and Achille Mbembe (2020) on vulnerability as unequally distributed exposure; the reflections of Michèle Petit (2011) on the right to culture as symbolic citizenship; and Jean-Michel Ganteau and Susana Onega’s (2015, 2022) notion of the vulnerable text. It concludes that these writings challenge hegemonic discourses of resilience and productivity and shape a collective memory that vindicates the right to speech and symbolic representation.

Reflections about the experience during the pandemic: UNAM students in the face of inequalities and privileges

Yazmín M. Cuevas Cajiga — 2025-11-28

During the COVID-19 pandemic, remote education was implemented. This event triggered, among other consequences, the resignation of thousands of students from higher education, of those that could not continue under the new dynamic due to economic problems, family losses, lack of motivation, hardships with mental and physical health, among others. Nonetheless, many students managed to continue their academic processes, making use of different strategies, and subsequently had the chance to return to the classroom gradually. In this context, an inquiry was carried out to learn about what happened to the students during this health crisis in the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). A qualitative approach was adopted to deepen in the subjectivity of the parties, and the sociology of academic experience was assumed as a theoretical base. Some of the participants made a series of reflections about what they perceived as a contrast between inequality and privilege. They also criticized the role of the institution, as they considered it did not develop enough mechanisms for retention, and they even questioned the meaning and social utility of their career. This is a contribution in the field of higher education in our country and Latin America, as it provides evidence on the critical look from students who were educated in public education during one of our contemporary history most critical periods.

Didactic devices in virtual learning environments: A proposal for the teaching of technical English in higher education

Anabella Iotti — 2025-11-28

The immersion of information and communication technology in pedagogical practices has attracted attention in the academic literacy process. This study aimed at analyzing the implementation of a virtual learning environment, its functionality and effectiveness in the subject Technical English, in two courses at the National University of Villa Mercedes (UNViMe). The course proposes a virtual pedagogical approach that includes synchronous and asynchronous activities, with the use of digital teaching tools and applications on the Moodle platform. Data collection was carried out through surveys in three different stages, which revealed a broad acceptance of the proposal. The majority of students passed with a final mark above average, while the number of not-passing and drop-out students was low. To conclude, it is considered that the virtual proposal promotes motivation and involvement; nevertheless, there are a number of students who, for various reasons, prefer face-to-face teaching methods without using screens or technological resources.