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HERNÁN OTERO
Theexpositionwillbeorganizedinthreeparts.First,thereisapresentation of
the most important characteristics ofthe social and economic modernization
of the Argentine Republic, with an emphasis on the contribution of mass
migration. Second, there is a discussion of the migratory integration process,
founded in three classical indicators: endogamy, residence patterns and
immigrant associations. This analysis will allow us to ponder the academic
schools (Cultural Pluralism and the Melting Pot) that have tried to make the
formation of a new Argentina understandable. Finally, we will present the
main factors that explain the migratory integration process and the emergence
of new identities: State policies, social mobility and political participation.
The first and second parts will be more factual, but that it is necessary to
contextualize and understand the last one.
MODERNIZATION AND IMMIGRATION
Between 1870 and 1950, Argentina had a steady economic growth based on
the openness to the world economy, the exportation of commodities (wheat
and beef, basically), and foreign investments, especially but not only British,
for the construction of railways, slaughterhouses and ports, and for public
services infrastructure and state loans. This process benefited, on the one
hand, from the incorporation of millions of acres of productive land after
the so called “Conquista del Desierto” (the Dessert Conquest), in 1879, that
ended up with native people controlling the land; and on the other hand, from
the state building process begun in 1880, which starts a period of a certain
political stability.
A few figures give us a clear image of the speed of this process: between
1870 and 1913 the gross domestic product grew by an average annual rate of
3.8%, double that of European countries. In only fifty years, between 1880
and 1930, 20,000 kms of railroads were built. In the same period, 148 million
acres of land were made cultivable. Agricultural expansion led to industrial
development in the largest cities. By 1928 Argentina was the sixth worldwide
economy. This prominent and expansive process wasn’t constant, hence
Argentina underwent recurrent economic crises, such as 1873 and 1890, but
especially 1929-1930, that, as in other parts of the world, was a watershed in
the history ofthe country.
One central element of this historical period was the massive arrival of
Europeans due to the extraordinary availability of emigrants produced
by demographic transitions in the old continent. Between 1857 and 1960,
7,600,000 overseas immigrants arrived in Argentina. The proportion of
people who returned to their countries (58% during 1870-1915, 44% between
1857 and 1960) was higher than in the case ofthe United States. Immigration,
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