0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Ethnographic Rendez-vous
obvious exchange of passionate embraces. These motivations include
a mix of curiosity and time to spare, along with the inner challenge
of learning a sophisticated dance in the company of others. Feelings
of solitude, and the potential to meet interesting men and women for
romantic purposes, constitutes another subtle motivation that leads
spirited urbanites into the tango hall. Unequal expectations are also
the backdrop of interpersonal tensions, as some men (and women)
actually find in the milongas opportunities to engage in romantic re-
lationships. Sexual claims are a sort of latent drive that may (or may
not) be expressed in the tango encounter. In any case, for those ex-
pecting to meet either sexual or romantic partners, the tango room
provides a permissive environment, where social embraces constitute
the backdrop for sensual intentions to be sought in slow motion with-
out awakening suspicion or loss of face.
In these contexts, the production of my social persona called for the
creation of a tango character that would represent me as a potential
subject for collective identification (see Kulik and Wilson 1995 ). I re-
member my first incursions into the tango hall, timidly sitting there
trying to engage in small talk with my occasional companions, for
the sole purpose of finding out more about their social worlds that I
was not really ready to join. In spite of my efforts to portray myself
as an ethnographer, I often wrongly gave the impression that I was
there wallflowering, waiting for the right partner to lure me from the
safety of my seat on the side. Although I did not look as flamboy-
ant as a tango dancer, I did try to camouflage myself by dressing like
one of them, to resemble an unassuming target. For some (men) this
somehow “confirmed” their suspicion that I was actually concealing
my real motives (waiting for a dance) under the guise of an ethnogra-
pher. Therefore, I often encountered problems convincing some Ar-
gentine males that I was there not to get free tango lessons or to pick
up guys but to conduct research. Why would a woman without a
tango partner be hanging out in a tango venue, often until very late
at night, if tango dancing were not her basic motivation? This ques-
tion was mostly on the mind of some older men, who somehow felt
entitled to display macho traits in the form of verbal aggression and
impropriety, while feeling protected by the cultural backdrop of the
