Debates sobre la identidad argentina y la figura del inmigrante durante la época de inmigración masiva (1880-1930)

Abstract

This paper examines the debates among Argentine intellectual and political elites about the construction of a national identity during the period of mass immigration (1880-1930). It analyses the evolution of positions from the initial idea of promoting European immigration as a means of ‘civilising’ the local population (native peoples, gauchos, criollos) to later concerns about the poor integration of immigrant communities, and the difficulties this generated in a society that was still defining its identity. It also explores how these different positions manifested themselves in cultural representations of the immigrant in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with a particular focus on literature and theatre.