Identity constructions of the German socialists in the Argentina of the late 19th century

The numbers of the German migration to Argentina are not comparable with those from Italy and Spain. Nevertheless, the “German colony” remained a controversial topic for the Argentinian public opinion. In contrast to earlier approaches that dealt mainly with the question of the “assimilation” or “integration” of the migrants and their descendants in the Argentinian society, this project focuses on the identity constructions that the migrant groups created about themselves and their environment after decades of interaction both with the country of origin and with the host society. The object of the analysis was the group of German socialists, who played an important role in the emergence of the Argentinian labour movement. The project was completed with the publication of a bilingual anthology of the newspaper Vorwärts, which appeared in Buenos Aires between 1886 and 1901. This newspaper is a source that reveals the identity constructions of the German socialists as well as the mechanisms and boundaries of the transnational transfer of ideas between both countries.