The Invention of Argentina

My Big Fat Irish/Argentine FamilyMy Book: The Invention of Argentina by Nicolas Shumway The title is pretty self-explanatory, but fascinating nonetheless. The idea that a country is “invented” is something that I’ve been thinking about a lot during my time here. In one of my classes, “The History of Argentina,” this has been a reoccurring theme. For example, we learned about how Buenos Aires (due to its unique geographical position on the eastern side of South America) was the main port and capital of the Spanish territory the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. During the entire 18th and a good chunk of the 19th centuries, Argentina flat out did not exist. The Viceroyalty was made up of what is currently Argentina, as well as parts of Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia. Therefore, Argentina was, literally, invented. While this concept of arbitrarily drawing borders and defining countries is something that has occurred many times in history (see: Africa), what makes Argentina even more “invented” is the people. Unlike many of its fellow Latin American nations, Argentina lacks a substantial indigenous population. While in countries like Mexico, Peru and Bolivia, where the Spanish mixed with the Native American population  (creating the large “mestizo” populations of today), in Argentina, even though there weren’t many indigenous peoples to begin with, they were essentially exterminated by the Spanish. So, what does this long history lesson mean? Argentina is a country of immigrants. Essentially everyone here, when they trace their roots back a few generations, comes from somewhere else. There was a massive wave of immigration from Europe in the late 19th that drastically changed and defined Buenos Aires as a city and Argentina as a country. Italian, Spanish, French, Russian, German, English, Irish, Polish… lots of Europeans. My host family here (the McLoughlin’s), whose relatives came over from Ireland during the huge immigration wave, is Irish. They are 100% pure blood Irish. They look Irish, my host mother speaks English with an Irish accent, they still have family in Ireland. However, they’re not technically Irish, they’re Argentine. When they’re applying for a visa to come visit the US, they don’t check the “White/Caucasian” box, they check “Hispanic/Latino” (even though they’re all paler than I am, and I’m a fairly pasty white boy). This country truly is invented, from its borders to its peoples.