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By the end of 19th Century and the beginning of 20th Century, anarchist writers from the Rio de la Plata region were committed to the discovery and literary creation of a whole group of human types that were novel representations of the "ser nacional" thus claiming for the participation of marginal social groups in the nation building plans. The cultural scenario moved from the countryside to the outskirts of the cities transforming the rural traditional gaucho figure into a heterogeneous group of suburban characters as being part of new aspects of national identity. These displacements and transformations were celebrated by anarchist writers through an original appropriation process of cultural tradition elements. This article analyzes the process of cultural and political transformation of the gaucho figure and Sarmientos's scheme "civilization vs. barbarism" pointing out that the outskirts were the place where painful signals of authoritarian modern impulse could be seen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]