The 'myth of the good immigrant' in Argentina

Key words: immigration, Argentina, nationalism, education, Lilia Bertoni

The issue of immigration in Argentina arose last meeting in our L&C III class out of a contrast proposed by a student between today’s TV-mediated dissemination of foreign culture in our country and the one brought about in the past by Southern European immigrants. We noticed that we tend to have a somewhat idealized perception of the presence of immigrants in our past. Perhaps we can even talk about a ‘myth of the good immigrant,’ that may be connected to the important wave of immigration arriving in Argentina after the First World War and the Spanish Civil War. For us (who are, in great number, descendants of those old comers) the word 'immigrant' tends to be associated with hard-working people who left the miseries of their homeland to fulfill their dreams on our generous soil and help building our nation. However, it is possible to think that if the waves of immigration of the first half of the 20^th century were so successful and left such a positive impression in our social imaginary, this was because the Argentine State and the ruling elites were already strong enough and well-prepared to handle the tension and risks that any important immigration movement implies. But that hadn’t always been the case.

The problem of immigration (at least from the point of view of the ruling classes) is always the risk of social, cultural or political instability. This was made evident in Argentina by the end of the 19^th century. Lilia Bertoni (1992) [1] studies the internal tension generated by immigrant groups and how local rulers showed apprehension by the strong national pride and sense of unity some of these groups displayed. She quotes an 1888 article from La Prensa in which the Italian community was called to celebrate the (quite recent) Unification of Italy:

“Being far from your Motherland, you must keep the festivity uncorrupted, celebrate the glory and cultivate the love to deserve being called her children. So be willing to answer to these sacred duties celebrating September 20^th.”

Argentine ruling elites felt more troubled when, in Italy, the economist Gerolamo Boccardo included Buenos Aires among other Italian "spontaneous colonies," and advised the crown to occupy these offshore territories as the “natural consummation of a right (…) created through work and virtue by several generations of Italians.” In fact, the parliamentary debate in Italy during this time of European imperialistic growth was whether to advance on the conquest of new ‘artificial colonies’ in Africa or to pay attention to the ‘spontaneous colonies’ in the Rio de la Plata basin.

Bertoni’s thesis is that national celebrations together with an emphasis on national history and on patriotic feeling were consciously introduced in schools by this time as an ideological instrument to control and lessen the potentially harmful impact of foreign nationalism [2]. In this sense she quotes an 1887 regulation by the CNE (Nacional Council of Education) which establishes national celebrations at schools:

“The well-intended interests of the whole country require promoting a patriotic feeling, which gives cohesion to the constitutive elements of our nationality.”

An article appearing in La Prensa by 1983 seems to be even more representative of this perception when it declares that “in the Argentine Republic, more than in any other country on earth, public education must have a national purpose (…), to neutralize that atmosphere of foreignness the child has been breathing exclusively during his early years and which he continues breathing each day before going to school and after leaving it.”

After decades of strengthening and consolidating a system of cultural homogenization (and after decades of persecution and expulsion of deestabilising foreign groups), it seems easier to explain the effective integration of the immigration waves of the post-war periods and the positive feeling left in our national imaginary. But this should help us bare in mind that the natural reaction towards immigration tends to be tension and not straightforward acceptance. And this is telling a lot about ourselves (or about any cultural identity in the end), about our conception of the self and of the foreign, and about the limits we consciously or unconsciously draw between communion with the Other and maintenance of our cultural individuality.

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[1] All the quotations in this post are taken from Bertoni’s paper: Bertoni, Lilia (1992) “Construir la nacionalidad: héroes, estatuas y fiestas patrias, 1887-1891.” Boletín del Instituto de Historia Argentina y Americana Dr. E. Ravigniani, Tercera Serie, Nº5. Buenos Aires: Instituto de Historia Argentina y Americana Dr. E. Ravignani.

[2] Bertoni's proposition is coherent with Tedesco's thesis that education in Argentina was meant to primarily fulfil the political function of integrating different cultures within the values of the hegemonic groups rather than to be functional to the economic policies of the Argentine State. This would explain the choice of an encyclopedist rather than pragmatic education in the early Argentine education system. [Tedesco, Juan Carlos (1993) Educación y Sociedad en la Argentina: 1880-1945. Buenos Aires: Ediciones Solar. (The chapter dealing with the political function of education can be downloaded here)]