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Nationalism has played a uniquely powerful role in Argentine history, in large part due to the rise and enduring strength of two variants of anti-liberal nationalist thought: one left-wing and identifying with the “people” and the other right-wing and identifying with Argentina’s Catholic heritage. Although embracing very different political programs, the leaders of these two forms of nationalism shared the belief that the country’s nineteenth-century liberal elites had betrayed the country by seeking to impose an alien ideology at odds with the supposedly true nature of the Argentine people. The result, in their view, was an ongoing conflict between the “false Argentina” of the liberals and the “authentic”nation of true Argentines. Yet, despite their commonalities, scholarship has yet to pay significant attention to the interconnections between these two variants of Argentine nationalism. Jeane DeLaney rectifies this oversight with Identity and Nationalism in Modern Argentina. In this book, DeLaney explores the origins and development of Argentina’s two forms of nationalism by linking nationalist thought to ongoing debates over Argentine identity. Part I considers the period before 1930, examining the emergence and spread of new essentialist ideas of national identity during the age of mass immigration. Part II analyzes the rise of nationalist movements after 1930 by focusing on individuals who self-identified as nationalists.
DeLaney connects the rise of Argentina’s anti-liberal nationalist movements to the shock of early twentieth-century immigration. She examines how pressures posed by the newcomers led to the weakening of the traditional ideal of Argentina as a civic community and the rise of new ethno-cultural understandings of national identity. Identity and Nationalism in Modern Argentina demonstrates that national identities are neither unitary nor immutable and that the ways in which citizens imagine their nation have crucial implications for how they perceive immigrants and whether they believe domestic minorities to be full-fledged members of the national community. Given the recent surge of anti-immigrant sentiment in Europe and the United States, this study will be of interest to scholars of nationalism, political science, Latin American political thought, and the contemporary history of Argentina.
This excellent book argues that Argentine nationalism has two historical strands. A left wing, socially inclusive thread had its origins in early twentieth-century socialist and anarchist movements, and became the inspiration for mid-twentieth century (and early twenty-first century) Peronism... This is the best synthesis of nationalist thought and action I’ve read. -National Identities
"In this intellectual history Delaney argues that both left- and right-wing forms of Argentine nationalism share roots in 19th-century German Romanticism, particularly in what she calls the 'organic ethno-cultural community.' . . . Delaney's genealogy of Argentine nationalisms (elitist and popular) and of a ser nacional ('national essence') spans most of the 20th century and discusses a long list of prominent intellectuals." —Choice
“Drawing on the classic virtues of intellectual history, Jeane DeLaney’s painstakingly researched history of nationalism in postcolonial Argentina explores the seeming paradox of a multi-ethnic nation in search of a homogenous ethno-national identity. Identity and Nationalism in Modern Argentina is an important contribution to the history of Argentina as well as the global history of nationalism.” —Michael Goebel, author of Argentina’s Partisan Past
"Identity and Nationalism in Modern Argentina studies the tension between two kinds of nationalism in Argentina: ethnic nationalism and civic nationalism—and the triumph of the latter over the former. The novelty of this study is the chronological framework, from the nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth, that Jeane DeLaney employs. This temporal arc, which includes the violence of the last military dictatorship, is to my judgment, the most salient feature of the book." —Marisa González de Oleaga, National University of Distance Education, Madrid
“Jeane DeLaney thoroughly succeeds in showing the impact of different kinds of nationalisms throughout the twentieth century in Argentina.” —María Rosa Olivera-Williams, author of El arte de crear lo femenino
Jeane DeLaney teaches Latin American history and Latin American studies at St. Olaf College.