The Armenian Diaspora in Argentina Facing the First World War and the Postwar

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the creation of the Armenian diaspora in Argentina after the genocide of 1915 by the Ottoman Empire and its mobilization during the Great War. In the context of state-sponsored nationalism in South America and Europe during the 1920s and 1930s, the creation of this diasporic identity imagined a community connecting the local with the global. The traumatic features of this community differ from the mainstream cases of Italian and Spanish migration and provide the opportunity to analyze the tensions between ethnic, religious, and cultural identities in a global context of crisis and extreme nationalism. The Armenian community in Argentina – the largest of Latin America – provides a compelling case study of resilience and cultural and political mobilization by non-state transnational actors – such as diasporas – during the first part of the twentieth century and its continuity during the new century.