Immigration and National Identities in Latin America
Between the mid-nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries, an influx of Europeans, Asians, and Arabic speakers indelibly changed the face of Latin America. While many studies of this period focus on why the immigrants came to the region, this volume addresses how the newcomers helped construct national identities in the Caribbean, Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil. The essays, from some of the most respected scholars of migration history, examine the responses--some welcoming, some xenophobic--to the newcomers. The contributors also look at the lasting effects that Jewish, German, Chinese, Italian, and Syrian immigrants had on the economic, sociocultural, and political institutions. They explore themes of assimilation, race formation, and transnationalism to enrich our understanding not only of migration to Latin America but also of the impact of immigration on the construction of national identity.
Penser l’histoire des migrations au Brésil dans une perspective globale
Les trois articles reunis dans ce dossier montrent que c’est dans une histoire globale que s’inscrivent les migrations au Bresil au cours de la periode contemporaine. Ainsi, quand les lois americaines restreignant l’immigration sont adoptees dans les annees 1920, l’Amerique latine et la France deviennent les deux principaux receptacles des flux migratoires europeens et ce, jusqu’a la fin des annees 1930 (Green, 2002, p. 48). Entre 1870 et 1930, deux a trois millions de migrants s'etablissent ...
The Welsh in Patagonia: An Example of Nationalistic Migration
IT TALES LOOKS WESTWARD. To the east have been ancient VV fears and invasions, but the sea meant hope. Thus it was natural that Welsh explorers claimed to have discovered the New World 322 years before Columbus. The so-called Welsh Indians of North America rather sensationally publicized supposed Celtic migrations. Yet, for all their seafaring feats, it is strange that the Cymri have not been known as great colonizers. Certainly thousands of them migrated to English America where colonial chronicles counted famous Welshmen from Roger Williams to Thomas Jefferson. In the nineteenth century they settled particularly in Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, and, eventually, in California during the gold rush. Least known of all is their most interesting pilgrimage, to one of the world's nearly forsaken eorners, Patagonia. The story of their coming is a curious one. The spirit of nationalism which swept nineteenth-century Europe did not spare Wales. Although the land problem caused some suffering among the Welsh, it was not the urgent issue found among their Gaelic cousins across St. George's Channel.' In fact, Louis Kossuth influenced them more than did the Irish Home Rulers. For Wales, national consciousness was based primarily on cultural values. In religion, Welsh Nonconformity felt itself hindered by the official Anglican church. A more emotional issue was that of the Welsh language itself, basis of all that is Welsh and unifying force of the Cambrian people. With good reason, nationalists believed that their peculiar tongue was declining as more Welshmen became bilingual or worse, wholly English-speaking. Without the preservation of language and literature and through them Welsh customs, beliefs, and values, * The author has received his graduate training at the University of California at Los Angeles. 1 A. W. Wade-Evans and others, The Historical Basis of Welsh Nationalism (Cardiff, 1950), p. 115.