El competidor imaginario: los inmigrantes italianos según la colectividad española de la Argentina (1900-1940)

Abstract

El competidor imaginario: los inmigrantes italianos según la colectividad española de la Argentina (1900-1940)

The article explores the image of Italian immigrants in the eyes of the Spanish immigrant community in Argentina during the first third of the 20th century. In spite of not being the largest immigrant group in the country, place occupied by the Italians, the Spanish community leaders attempted to forge a kind of “common descent” with the Argentinian nation, by emphasising the historical and cultural ties between Spaniards and Argentinian creoles. This also required the construction of an “enemy”, at least at the symbolic level, and the Italians passed on to be considered the great “other”, since their huge number and their influence on Argentina’s social life made them appear as a challenge to the predominance of the Spanish cultural heritage. Nonetheless, the Italo-Spanish rivalry never surpassed the level of a fight for a symbolic and cultural hegemony inside Argentinian public opinion.