To Govern is to Depopulate the Pyrenees: Basque Identity and Hispanidad in Argentina, 1870-1939

• In Event: Peripheral Projects: Nation Building in “Empty Spaces” from Baja California to La Pampa

Abstract

Mid-nineteenth-century conceptions of Argentine national identity fetishized northern European migrants as harbingers of modernization. Conversely, the turn of the century Hispanidad movement found authentic national identity in the interior of Argentina, specifically its Basque immigrant community. The movement's intellectuals, such as Zacarias de Vizcarra, sought to re-vindicate the mixture of Hispanics and criollos as foundational to Argentine national identity. In opposition to a liberal nation building project, Hispanidad intellectuals interpreted Argentine identity as synonymous with Catholicism and viewed the Roman Catholic tradition in Spanish politics as a positive example for Argentina. The Hispanidad movement developed transnational networks among right-wing intellectuals who eventually played important roles in the governments of Francisco Franco and Juan Domingo Peron.
Hispanidad intellectuals specifically viewed Basques as model Spaniards because of their racial and linguistic “purity,” modern industrial economy, and strong Catholic traditions. In Argentina, Basques populated peripheral provinces and worked in agrarian sectors, where the “soul” of the country was thought to reside. Hispanic identity gained considerable popularity in Argentina, specifically among many conservative Basque-Argentine intellectuals. However, Francisco Franco's persecution of the Basque region by the late 1930s caused the Basque diaspora community to view this identitarian project with a distrust and hostility shared by their homeland counterparts. The Hispanidad movement was a transnational nation-building project that sought to include a peripheral subject into Argentine national identity while upholding European superiority.

Author

• Troy A Kokinis, UC San Diego