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Eduardo Sacheri on Juana Viale: "Human beings are prejudiced"
🇦🇷 Argentina /Culture & Society

Eduardo Sacheri on Juana Viale: "Human beings are prejudiced"

From La Nación · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

Interview Named sources Context piece
  • Argentine historian Eduardo Sacheri discussed his new essay collection on Argentine history, "Los días de la Constitución 1852-1880."
  • Sacheri argued that human beings are inherently prejudiced and that understanding the past requires distancing oneself from present-day biases.
  • He used the example of criticism towards Argentina for alleged racism after the 2026 World Cup final to illustrate how present judgments can distort historical understanding.

Argentine historian Eduardo Sacheri visited "Almorzando con Juana Viale" to discuss his latest essay collection, "Los días de la Constitución 1852-1880." The book delves into the challenges of writing about Argentine history and offers contemporary comparisons to understand past events.

Human beings are prejudiced.

— Eduardo SacheriStating his view on the inherent nature of prejudice during a television appearance.

Sacheri asserted that people are inherently prejudiced, stating, "Human beings are prejudiced." He emphasized the necessity of distancing oneself from the present to truly understand the past. "To understand the past, you need to distance yourself from the present," he explained, adding that reflecting on events only becomes possible when they are left behind, otherwise, "injustices" occur.

To understand the past, you need to distance yourself from the present.

— Eduardo SacheriExplaining his methodology for historical analysis.

He illustrated his point by referencing criticisms leveled at Argentina for being allegedly "racist" following the 2026 World Cup final. "That's why you see that in the Argentine national team, there are no black players from 10,000 kilometers away, and you say: 'What a racist country.' This generalized as a concept from the point of... I look from my present, from the present of my society, at another society that I don't understand, I judge it, and I draw nefarious conclusions," the historian described.

That's why you see that in the Argentine national team, there are no black players from 10,000 kilometers away, and you say: 'What a racist country.'

— Eduardo SacheriIllustrating how present-day judgments can misinterpret historical contexts.

Sacheri concluded that while prejudice is natural, the key is to set it aside when studying any subject. "It's in our nature [prejudice]; the point is that we don't act pure. It bothers me when they speak to you from purity..." he stated. His current work is the third in a series of historical divulgation essays, following "Los días de la Revolución 1806-1820" and "Los días de la violencia 1820-1852," with a fourth volume planned.

It's in our nature [prejudice]; the point is that we don't act pure. It bothers me when they speak to you from purity...

— Eduardo SacheriReflecting on the naturalness of prejudice and the pretense of purity.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by La Nación in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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