1

Second generation Argentinean migrants in Catalonia: ethnic

mobility and ethnic mobilization

Abstract: Drawing on some of the preliminary findings of an ongoing research project on second-generation migrants, language use and social mobility in Catalonia, this paper focuses on the link between social mobility and ethnic mobilization of Argentinean migrants. Empirical evidence collected via biographical interviews with migrants from Argentina that came to Spain in the 1970’s and 1980’s and their children that have grown up in the host country are used to demonstrate the degree of integration of these immigrants and their descendants in Spanish society and the labor market. Our research also emphasizes the role of political action in their integration and analyzes the issue of language learning and its impact on the integration of Argentineans. Keywords: migration, Argentinean, second generation, mobility Argentina was one of the countries with a higher GDP in

Latin America up to the last quarter of the 20th century. A

particular feature of Argentina, which is considered to be

of crucial importance for understanding the profile of

migrants from this country: its extensive and prestigious

higher education system. Argentina received migration since

the middle of the 19th century throughout the 20th. Migrants

contributed to give rise to a highly dynamic, brand new

society. Unlike other Latin American countries, Argentina

was from the very beginning a melting pot of other European

nationalities and as a society benefited from the cultural

diversity and dynamism brought by migration.

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In this paper our aim is to explain how Argentineans

develop integration strategies in Catalonia, a region of

Spain along the French border, and also to uncover the link

between pathways of integration (Solé et al, 2001, 2002) of

migrants and the experience of the second generation. The

structure of the text is as follows: 1) A brief historical

account on Argentinean migration in Catalonia, 2) A brief

account on paths of integration of immigrants in Catalonia,

3) Some extracts from biographical in-depth interviews with

Argentinean migrants speaking about integration in

Catalonia, 4) Concluding remarks on the relationship

between ethnic mobilisation and social mobility.

1. A short history of Argentinean migration in Catalonia: From exile to economic migration

The turning point of the recent history of Argentina is the

year 1976. March 24 saw the military coup that ended the

crumbling democratic government lead by Isabel de Perón,

Coronel Perón’s third wife. Repression was harsh, and

started well before the coup. Repression prompted the

phenomenon of the “desaparecidos”, people that was captured

by the military and were not to be seen again. Exile became

a widespread solution, especially for scientists and

intellectuals that, during the Perón years (1948-55; 1972-

1974) had become habituated to freedom and prosperity

(Lanata, 1999).

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Peronism has been considered a populist ideology founded in

the idea that Argentina was kind of a middle class or,

sometimes, classless society where it was possible to

prosper (Halperin Donghi, 2001).

The possibility of upward social mobility for the children

of the working-class Argentineans was always present, as

some authors have pointed out (Turner & Carballo, 2005).

Economic and social prosperity though ended abruptly with

the onset of the Military “Junta” and its subsequent

policies.

The dictatorship pushed thousands of Argentinean citizens

into exile. Being most of them university-educated, they

often found a professional career in European countries

that had prestigious higher education systems, such as

those of central and northern Europe. This flow increased

in the following years, and young Argentineans started to

migrate to Spain and Italy, where better professional and

personal opportunities were granted for them (Turner &

Carballo, 2005).

First Italy and then Spain, after Franco’s death on 20

November 1975, started to welcome Argentineans. In Italy,

migrants of Italian ancestry had often access to Italian

nationality (Rhi Sausi, 1992).

Rhi Sausi estimates that roughly a 20% of Argentinean

exiles had completed a university degree. This author

postulates that labour market integration was more

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successful for those migrants who had technical degrees

such as engineering or architecture (Rhi Sausi, 1992).

According to Rhi Sausi, there were four main profiles of

Argentinean migrants in the years during and after the

onset of the dictatorship (late 1970’s- early 1980’s):

1) University graduates: Mostly graduates in technical

disciplines that could be translated more easily to

the academic standards of European countries than

social science degrees.

2) Autonomous workers: Bussinessmen leading SME (Small

and Medium Enterprises) in Argentina that changed

operations towards Europe.

3) Domestic workers: Women that were university educated

and professionally experienced (such as secretaries,

nurses or schoolteachers) but were unable to find a

suitable job in Europe.

4) Returning migrants: People that had migrated to Europe

with their family (as children) in the 1940’s and

returned later as adults.

Among Argentinean there was a high quota of political

activists. They came mostly from urban areas, mainly Buenos

Aires, Rosario and La Plata (Jensen, 2002). Therefore, they

had a high volume of accumulated cultural and social

capital (Bourdieu, 1999; 2000) and they were able to

convert in other types of capital to attain integration.

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Argentinean exiles helped each other in practical tasks,

such as finding accommodation and a job. They also

initiated political organisation in the host country, co-

ordinating mobilisation against the dictatorship.

Jensen, in her work on Argentinean refugees in Catalonia

(2002), has pointed out exiles founded committees of help

to political opponents to dictatorship in Argentina.

Encountering a sympathetic welcome in Catalan society would

influence positively their careers. Argentineans even

became the main immigrant group in Spain in the early

1980’s, but were outnumbered from 1986 by Moroccans.

It has to be pointed out; however, that the political

repression spawned by the Argentinean military authorities

between the years 1976 to 1982 struck not only and not even

primarily the activist leaders. It also affected people

back in their home country that were, to a certain extent,

politically silent. To be more precise, those that were

struck by repression were those who had innovative ideas.

In Europe, Argentinean exiles were mainly organised in a

network of associations that had mainly four objectives:

1) Political opposition to the military regime

2) Defence of human rights

3) Continuity of Argentinean political parties

4) The creation of links of solidarity between Spain and

Argentina (Jensen, 2002).

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Exiles arriving in southern Europe in the 1970’s were able

to take advantage of their previous links with Spain and

Italy, some of which went back as far as the 19th century.

Many immigrants attained Spanish or Italian citizenship

through the principle of "ius sanguini" that enabled

descendants from Spanish or Italian citizens to regain

citizenship. However, Jensen (2002) has stated that some

exiles, despite having access to citizen status, were not

able to have their academic qualifications and work

experience recognised by the host society.

Migration towards Europe was not only the result of

political repression but also a response to economic

reforms that were producing a regressive redistribution of

incomes. Historically, Argentina had a large middle class

and one of the most egalitarian distributions of income in

Latin America (Turner & Carballo, 2005), something that

changed in the years following the dictatorship.

In the 1980’s an increasing quota of the population began

falling below the poverty line. Such changes in the

economic situation of middle class Argentineans have

prompted some scholars to speak about the “degradation” of

the middle class (Malgesini, 2002).

The dictatorship ended on 1983, after the defeat of

Argentina in the Falklands war. A new democratic

government, led by Raul Alfonsin, head of the UCR (radical)

party, was elected. The economic policy of the previous

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years, however, had left long-lasting consequences in the

Argentinean economy.

Some scholars have pointed out that neo-liberal policies

were more extreme in Argentina than in any other country of

Latin America (Turner & Carballo., 2005). Hyperinflation

has been a distinct preoccupation in Argentina, with

economy being marked with rapid price increases and

subsequent protests. Consumption of manufactured goods has

been rising and falling periodically since the 1990’s.

Menem also started to privatise previously government-

sponsored companies, such as Intel (Phone Company) and YPF

(oil), which were later sold to the Spanish company Repsol

(Lanata, 1999).

Furthermore, policies toward the Argentinean currency also

changed. In March 1991, it was established the parity

between the Argentinean peso and the U.S. dollar, a move

that caused inflation and turned prices of common goods to

luxury for many Argentineans (Casas, 2002).

Due to this economic situation, in the beginning of the

21st century, 53.8% of the Argentinean population was below

poverty line and economic disparities between the upper

classes and the expanding numbers of both rural and urban

poor grew rapidly. Poverty concentrated primarily in the

north but also hit hard in metropolitan Buenos Aires

(Malgesini, 2002).

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Economic crisis has caused Argentina to become a country

that produces economic migration towards Europe and the

United States. In particular, economic migration towards

southern Europe, mainly to Spain and Italy, has increased.

Catalonia and the city of Barcelona in particular, received

an important flow of Argentinean migrants in the first

years of the 21st century. In the period 2001-2005 the

number of Argentinean citizens living in Barcelona

multiplied by five, going from 2,504 (2001) to 12,439

(2005)1.

In evaluating figures of migration flows it has to be taken

into account that many Argentinean-born citizens can obtain

Spanish or Italian nationality due to their ancestry. This

means that the real figure is even greater, because many

people born in Argentina arrive to Barcelona and are able

to register as Spanish or Italian.

Argentineans living in Catalonia have been organising

groups and associations ever since the first exiles

arrived. Presently, the main Argentinean institution in

Barcelona is the “Casal Argentino de Barcelona”, located

since early 2007 in Consell de Cent, in the heart of the

city. This institution provides advice to settle in

Catalonia, organises conferences, meetings and parties with

fellow Argentinean citizens and offers tango lessons.

1 Data on migration was collected through the Statistics Department of the Municipality of Barcelona.

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It has to be pointed out that Argentineans have played an

important role in immigrant organisation in Catalonia. Not

only were amongst the first immigrant groups, but many of

them are university educated and were socially and

politically active. They have often been organisers and

managers of immigrant organisations of a wider scope2.

Nowadays, the massive out-migration of the early years of

the 21h century has slowed down due to the improvement of

the economic situation in Argentina. A recent report by

CEPAL underlined 5 factors of macroeconomic recovery:

1) Consolidation of the production of consumer goods.

2) Generation of currents of investment and savings that

help sustain capital accumulation.

3) Consolidation of a solid fiscal balance.

4) Consistency of distributive equilibriums.

5) Positive evolution of aggregated demand.

As Cetrangolo, Heymann and Ramos have indicated, the

positive evolution of the Argentinean economy has allowed

for a new economic growth that is consistent both with the

productive and consumer demands of the Argentinean economy.

(Cetrangolo, Heymann and Ramos, 2007).

In the next section we address the problematic nature of

integration for immigrants in Catalonia and its

implications for Argentinean migrants.

2 That is the case with the main Latin American group in the province of Tarragona, “Casal Latinoamericano” in Reus, founded in 1986 by an Argentinean journalist.

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2. Integration of immigrants and dual labour market

This section addresses the features of integration of

immigrants into Catalan society and its implications for

Argentinean migrants.

Catalonia is an autonomous community, and a historical

region of Spain, with its own language (Catalan),

institutions (Generalitat3), and identity.

In fact, pioneering research on migration in Barcelona

focused on internal migration coming from southern regions

of Spain and demonstrated the importance of learning

Catalan for integration (Solé, 1982). Nowadays, regional

government policies try to encourage foreign immigrants to

learn Catalan in order to attain cultural integration,

something that is often thwarted by the economic hardships

that they suffer.

Solé has differentiated three main types of integration of

immigrants in Catalan society: economic integration, legal

integration and sociocultural integration (Solé, 1998,

1999; Solé et al. 2002). Regarding the first type of

integration, Catalan labour market presents a dual

structure, with a divide between highly qualified, well-

paid and stable jobs and less qualified, low-paid and

3 “Generalitat” means “Generalty” and is the official denomination of the Catalan government. It is an institution that dates back to the 13th Century and was a functioning institurtion in Catalonia since 1714. It was reinstated after Franco’s death in 1975.

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unstable jobs (Piore, 1979). Migrants in Spain enter the

labour market mostly via the secondary segment.

This is especially true of undocumented migrants and of

most migrants that enter Spain legally but do not speak

Spanish. Therefore, most immigrants get jobs in low-pay,

low-skill service sectors such as cleaning or catering

industries, where salaries are low and often there is not a

formal contract (Solé et al., 2001).

However, exiles fleeing Argentina during dictatorship

(1976-1982) encountered a less restrictive labour market

once in Spain due to lower unemployment rates and the fact

that some professions were keen to welcome qualified

immigrants. Since university education in Spain was still

at the time a privilege of a few, and the country was in

need to develop wider educational and health systems,

skilled migration was highly on demand.

Access to the labour market is also related to the legal

status of immigrants. Spain did not have an Immigration Law

up until 1986, when the first Foreign Law was approved in

the wake of the Spanish entrance in the European Union.

Foreign Law (“Ley de Extranjería”) is the Spanish

denomination for the immigration law. Until 1986, Latin

Americans immigrants did not need a visa to enter Spain,

but they were nevertheless accepted as legal residents,

with full residence and employment rights.

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The 1986 Law was required by the European Union in order to

bring Spain in line with the policies of the previous

member states. In 2000, two immigration laws were approved

in only a few months. The second law, approved after the

electoral landslide victory of the Popular Party

(conservative) at the 2000 general election was more

restrictive of immigrant rights.

However, the present government has announced that the

possibility of obtaining Spanish citizenship will be

offered to Latin Americans whose grandparents were born in

Spain in a forthcoming law (La Vanguardía, May 26th 2007).

The law would allow the grandchildren of former Spanish

immigrants in Argentina and their descendants to go full

circle in the claiming of their roots. Full circle here

means that they, Argentinean, would return to Spain, the

land where their ancestors born. The former migrant sending

country (Spain) would have become the host country whereas

the former receiving country (Argentina) would have become

the sending country.

Once migrants arrive in Catalonia, the issue of cultural

integration becomes a complex one, spanning aspects that

are related both to Spain and to Catalonia. Catalonia has

had a separate cultural identity and language since the

early 10th century.

After Franco’s death in 1975 Catalonia quickly regained its

own political institutions, such as General Government,

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Parliament and it also declared a new “Estatut” (regional

constitution) giving the region more control on its

financial situation.

The first researches on immigration into Catalonia regarded

not foreign migration but migration from other parts of

Spain (Solé, 1981, 1982). Given that Catalonia is one of

the most industrialised and developed parts of Spain, the

region opened a vast array of employment opportunities in

industry for people from Southern Spain that in their

regions were unable to find a job that allowed them to

escape poverty. For those immigrants, learning Catalan was

a very important asset for integration, since it was the

key to better and more stable jobs.

Migrants in early 20th Argentina had settled previously in

areas where people from the same Spanish province, or even

Spanish city were living (Da Orden, 2001). Argentineans in

Spain tended as well to establish themselves in certain

locations. New Argentinean migrants have shown a preference

to establish in cities and towns in the metropolitan region

of Barcelona and also in coastal towns and villages in the

south of the city.

In our fieldwork we have encountered many migrants that

prefer coastal locations and places with an active cultural

scene. Barcelona is the place where the higher number of

Argentineans is living but other medium-sized cities along

the coast, such as Sitges, have been also prominent. In the

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case of Sitges, which is located about 20 kilometres south

from Barcelona, an important reason to settle there,

according to our informants, was the possibility of

enjoying a “bohemian” and “hippy” lifestyle.

In the case of Barcelona, an interesting feature

highlighted by many of our interviewees as a key reason for

settling in the city was the cultural scene. Being migrants

that have a strong accumulated cultural capital,

Argentineans felt at ease in a cosmopolitan environment

when there were interesting cultural activities. Therefore,

Argentinean chose Barcelona not only to become inhabitants

of the city, but also “city users” (Martinotti, 1994;

2004), that is, to take advantage of the cultural

opportunities that urban life offers.

Possessing a high volume of cultural capital means that

Argentineans are well situated to enter the primary labour

market of the host country. Many of them, being university

graduates and professionals, can attain positions similar

to those that they had in the host country.

In professions such as dentistry or psychology,

Argentineans were pioneers in Spain in the 1970’s and have

continued to play a very important role in the development

of those professions. Furthermore, through kinship ties

with Spain, Italy, and other European countries,

Argentineans do have frequently the possibility of

attaining EU citizenship.

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Using concepts first coined by Ghassan Hage (2000) in his

work on migration and multicultural policy in Australia, we

may say that Argentineans in Spain have a greater access to

“national capital” than other groups. Hage defines

“national capital” as a combination of access to

citizenship, labour market and cultural integration.

Migrants able to accumulate national capital have more

possibilities to be assimilated into the host society.

Argentinean migrants’ trajectories and forms of

organisation differ vastly from those of other groups. They

can organise themselves and make their political demands in

the same ways and with the same rights that a local.

3. Trajectories of Argentinean migrants and their

children in Catalonia: successful integration with

downward social mobility

Elliott (1997) starts his account of the trajectories of

Scottish migrants in Canada with a question: “What happens

when an immigrant group that shares the language of the

host country faces downward social mobility?”

In our analysis on the trajectories of Argentinean migrants

and their descendants in Catalonia this question helps to

explain some of the things we have encountered. The

interview extracts we will be referring to were collected

in the context of a research project on “Social mobility

and Catalan language: analysis of the second generation of

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immigrants in Catalonia” funded by the Institut d’Estudis

Catalans (IEC) and carried on by the GEDIME [Grup d’EstuDis

Inmigració i Minories Etniques] research group at

Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. The research analyzes

trajectories of three immigrant groups: Argentineans,

Colombians and Moroccans. Here we are focusing only in the

first group.

Argentinean migrants do realize the implications of growing

up in another country, going so far as to say that children

in Spain have much more freedom than in Argentina and this

is bad because it allows children to “deviate”.

[Respondent:] Here (in Spain) it has gone from a castrating education in Franco’s era to an education of… a kid, 5 or 6 years old, what does he know about life? You see parents have had a very castrating education and then they went to the other end. It has become an education of false freedom. For me, you should be very cautious when things should be done. There has to exist some kind of discipline but it is not that of Franco is back. The important thing for children is discipline, which he knows sometimes things cannot be done, that he knows it’s that way. This is going advantage him in many aspects. Those children that are left to do as they like, what benefits do a child like that have? If he does not know what to do. I think that children in many senses are like little animals, it can sound terrible but what type of consciousness does a child have? Is a job that entails a lot of responsibility and I think that unfortunately the parents do not have it. I have seen things that I have been astounded, like: the parent bringing up the child or the child bringing up the father? [Interviewer:] Could you give an example? [Respondent:] Yes. You see fathers or mothers that are ignorant. I work with children and I see it with fathers. I have had the experience of teaching drama classes with children where there are 29 children in a class, 12 boys and the rest of them girls. One day I

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arrive in the classroom and the twelve boys were missing and somebody told me that boys were in playing football. Parents have pulled them from drama and pushed them into football. Then I was looking through the window and I see them playing. For me, it was terrible. I hope not to do something like that. Furthermore, I think art is very important for children. It is very different from sports. Sports are often negative. I like sport but I feel sometimes is negative. It creates competitiveness. It is a lie that thing of team working. Then, art brings children into other things. But speaking is easy. That is what I say; I hope to be lucid for not making mistakes with my children.” (Argentine, male, Barcelona, 37 years)

Argentineans living in Catalonia have a recurring sense

that they want their children to stay away from some of the

perceived “ills” of the host society.

Those “ills” are linked with the experience of upper

middle-class people sending their kids to schools in

working class and deprived neighbourhoods. It is not the

overall “quality” of the neighbourhood that worries them;

rather it is lower living standards in comparison with

those of their upper middle class neighbourhood.

Downward mobility is perceived as a threat, something that

has already been proved extensively in some recent

researches about migrants in Italy (Ambrosini, 1999; 2000).

Concern regarding the possibility of downward mobility is

correlated with the recent history of Argentina. Exiles of

the 1970’s decided to exile not only because of political

repression but also for issues related to their situation

in the labour market, which changed with the new policies

introduced by the Military Junta.

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Argentinean exiles fleeing from the dictatorship often say

that physical threat to their life was not always direct.

It often took the form of being registered in a blacklist

of “difficult” people in their workplace. “Difficult” here

implies not only being politically active but also having

different ideas. In brief, this label was attached to

people that were considered as trying to innovate in ways

that were seen as revolutionary (challenging the

establishment) by the new rulers. Downward mobility was

that awaited people that were not willing to renounce their

ideas. This is the reason that the same people fear of

downward mobility for their children in Spain, as we will

see. In the next paragraph, an example is given of what

“difficult” meant for the military in the words of a

psychoanalyst.

“One day a medical Capitan arrived. It was the army entering all the centres of power and influence. Amongst those were the hospitals. Then a medical Capitan arrived and asked the director, which was not the one that invited that invited me to participate years ago, it was another one. He asked for ten names, it was a witch hunt, ten names from people that could make trouble with their activity or ideas, and one of these ten names was me. Then I went to see the medical Capitan because I was in the list and I asked him “Why I am I kicked out from the hospital?” I was very active, moving, making proposal for changes, moving the hospital and the kids. And he says, “Look, this is a war, if communist win, they cut our throats, now it is us who won”, therefore I rushed to say, “I am not a communist” (laughs), and he said, “It does not matter. It is all the same, go away.” I was kicked out. So if it was not for being a communist, what for? Because I had been put in the list. Because I was uncomfortable, because I thought, because I had

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influence in the hospital. Because the things I was suggesting were being done. Things like the therapeutic community; do you know what a therapeutic community is? We could for the first time organise a therapeutic community, reuniting all kids and teenagers and let them make proposals. Their demands and questions and after we elevate some of those things, the ones that were viable, to the director. That was uncomfortable.” (Argentinean, male, 65 years).

Exiles arrived to Catalonia in the late 1970’s and early

1980’s were able to enter host society as professionals,

taking advantage of lack of development of certain

professions in a country where having a university

education was still the privilege of a few and skilled

workers were on demand. Validation of Argentinean

university credentials in Spain was made easy because in

areas such as psychology or dentistry there were few

locals. This was the experience for the psychoanalyst we

quoted before:

“I was 34. And I had already been working for ten years because I got my degree when I was very young, I got the degree in medicine, I did a year specialisation, 3 years in psychiatry and then I started to get patients. I had been already ten years in psychiatric work. Then I could offer something that was not very common here. In Barcelona there were ten analysts of psychoanalytic association here that were Kleinian them all, were trained in London and it had been very difficult for them to begin working here. It was very difficult. Psychoanalysis always was a very subversive ideology for tyrants. But these people had… I went to speak with the person who was president of the association at that time, a very nice woman. But, of course, when I said, I am psychoanalyst, she says, no, do not tell me that. If you want to be a psychoanalyst, you have to come and get analyzed with

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us. And we will tell you when you will be a psychoanalyst. But I already had and experience of many years! We will tell you when, she said, now you are paidopsychiatrist, psychiatrist of children. And the woman helped me as paidopsychiatrist. It is very crazy. Then she introduced to another man, I remember it was from a centre here in Montjuic. A centre on deaf-mute people. Very nice as well. Because people at that time did understand what was happening in Latin America, what was happening in Chile, in Argentina, in Uruguay. And then they knew and they had a great receptivity in a human level with people. Then this man offered me a job as a supervisor and tending patients in a centre in the city of Granollers.” (Argentinean, male, 64 years old).

In other areas, such as the arts, integration in the labour

market of the host society was not so smooth. Following

Bourdieu (1999; 1999b; 2000), the struggle for being part

of a field begins with the quest for symbolic capital, for

recognition. Teaching provided Argentinean immigrants with

such recognition from the host society. In that sense,

entering the field for these pioneering migrants was a

matter of being able to convert their knowledge in suitable

cultural capital in the host society.

Another way to obtain the desired recognition from the host

society was direct political action. Argentinean exiles, as

we have said, were pioneers in creating community

associations and groups. Argentineans were amongst the

first immigrant groups arrived in Spain from Latin America

and have often acted as spokespeople for the whole Latin

American community. In the next paragraph, the founder of

“Casal latinoamericano” in a small town in the province of

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Tarragona, explains how he became a $pioneer on the

political action of migrants:

“Well, after that I had a very intense social activity, as I say the parents’ association at that moment was an important thing. We had a certain weight in the carrying out of reforms in schools, in the building of schools were there was overcrowding and afterwards in other activities. We were founders of the Committee against racism in the year 92, the Committee Zapatista in 94, well, lots of activities related to the cultural life of the city, we celebrated concerts, talks, book presentations and lots of things from the Latin American centre. Interviewer: So, the centre was created in… Respondent: Late 1980’s. Before we have been the Committee of solidarity with Latin America but as Latin American Centre we are here from 88. Three or four years before we have been Committee of Solidarity with Latin America and afterwards we became the Latin American centre. In order to reorganise the Latin American people living here. And that is what we do.” (Argentinean, male, 60 years).

Argentineans have often led the ethnic mobilisation of the

Latin American community in Catalonia. As many of them

stated repeatedly in the interviews, Argentineans speak a

lot, and tend to speak their mind, so they are often used

to leading groups and associations even before migration.

Argentinean migrants are often seen as cultural

entrepreneurs that extract the most from the cultural life

of the city they live in. The lives of Argentinean migrants

in Barcelona are full of these “symbolic struggles”

(Bourdieu, 1995) for recognition that are usual in the

cultural field. Therefore, it is expected that culture will

play also an important role in the reproduction and/or

improvement of the position occupied in social space by

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their children. Education is seen by Argentineans migrants

as a gateway to upward social mobility.

It is in the issue of the reproduction of social position

in the second generation, the children of those exiles that

were going to be raised in Spain, that linguistic capital

plays again an important role for integration of the

Argentinean community . Most of Catalan population is

bilingual in Catalan and Spanish and that means it is

advisable to learn both languages to integrate in Catalan

society. Catalan is the main language of daily life in

Catalonia. The main Catalan TV stations broadcast only in

Catalan, whereas only a couple of general newspapers are in

that language, the others being in Spanish. A 1997 law

states that signs in shops should appear in Catalan and in

some circles, such as the middle upper classes, speaking

Catalan is a must to establish a relationship of

familiarity.

The prevalence of the Catalan language in Catalan daily

life creates a bad situation to Latin American migrants.

Not only do they speak only Spanish, but also it in

addition, many are not willing to learn Catalan because

they perceive it as a “folkloric” issue, despite it being

the language of Catalan administration and essential to

work in the public sector.

It is the second generation which first becomes aware of

the importance of learning Catalan, mostly those who grew

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up in the early 1980`s when the newly restored Catalan

government was reintroducing Catalan. By the end of that

decade Catalan was the main teaching language in the

region. The following extract reflects on the experience of

the daughter of Argentinean migrants, shows how schooling

in Catalan affected negatively her progression at school:

“Interviewer: And in school, lessons were primarily in Spanish or in Catalan… Mostly in Catalan or where there teachers that were teaching in Spanish. Respondent: No, there were many classes in Catalan but there was one teacher in particular that taught Spanish and was speaking in Spanish all the time. I: Was he the only one? R: Yes, he was the only one, everyone was speaking in Spanish. I: So, right from the start, your schooling was in Spanish. R: Yes, afterwards we began introducing English. And, well, to begin with all the basics were in Catalan, all the books were in Catalan. No, you could not escape from Catalan. Further, I have some spelling mistakes. But, well, I always liked Catalan. I speak little, some with my stepfather (a Catalan) but with my mother, who is Argentinean, it becomes impossible to speak in Catalan with her. But, well, I am good at it, at least a little.” (Argentinean, female, 26 years old).

Language learning has played an important role in the

social mobility projects that some migrants living in

Catalonia have for their children. In the next paragraph we

reproduce the words of an informant that brought their

children to the French school in Barcelona and explicitly

states his aim was to provide them with better

opportunities in life, something, he felt, involved

24

precisely learning other languages in order to be better

prepared to live in Europe:

“Interviewer: So, your children have already been educated here, they were brought up here, the two of them. Have they studied in Catalan? R: I sent them to the French Lyceum, to a French school. So they speak Catalan, Spanish, French and English. Everything that was so much difficult for me, kids already spoke four languages when they are 16 years old. I did with them, as I would have wanted for myself. I would have wanted they brought me to a school where I could learn other languages because then you grow with it from the start. Then it becomes natural. I: So you had the idea that learning languages was an important factor... R: Yes, in spite of living in Argentina, you only speak Spanish, well; you know all countries in the southern cone, except Brazil, are Spanish Speaking. My dream was always Europe.” (Argentinean, male, 62 years old)

Many Argentinean exiles stated first arrived in Spain while

travelling across Europe in their youth, and then they

decided to establish in the country only some years after.

The previous experience of Europe that parents born in

Argentina had in the 1970’s is in sharp contrast to what

happens with many of their children. Children from

Argentinean families brought up in Spain have often

experienced difficulties in the Spanish educational system.

In this situation, the European dimension of their lives is

thwarted by failing grades at school and the lack of a

clear vocation, something that renders impossible for them

to replicate the travelling and wandering around Europe

their parents lived.

25

Personal circumstances are determinant in the trajectories

of the children of Argentinean migrants, as in some cases

it was the divorce of the parents that marked the turning

point (towards failure and dropout) in the academic lives

of their children. In the next paragraph we reproduce the

words of the daughter of an Argentinean artist.

“Interviewer: ¿How was your experience in primary school? Respondant: Well, fine. What happens is that I got a lapsus there that many people realized as when my parents separated. I was 7, more or less; there is a lapsus there. It seems that I was already a bit confused at school. However, afterwards I recovered and it was o.k. R: At that time, which year was in you in, second of primary school? I: Second right, second of primary school. So that was where I began to tumble a little, because I was being told that I had fantasies in my mind and those things. That I remember, it was more difficult for me to study at that point. But I do not think it was such a thing.” (Argentinean, female 26 years old)

Dropping out from school after the divorce of their parents

is quite frequent amongst children of Argentinean migrants.

There has been detected a link between family crisis,

economic crisis and academic failure. In order to

understand how and why the different types of crisis are

connected, we have to take into account that Spain is still

a mostly familistic welfare regime, where family support is

important for explaining social structure (Flaquer, 2004).

When family support fails individuals encounter many

obstacles in their life projects, and are compelled to set

them aside and settle into “steady” jobs. Those “steady”

26

jobs are in sharp contrast with the bohemian and self-

affirming vocations of the previous generation.

The gap between projects and aspirations of the Argentinean

generation brought up in the context of prosperity of the

1950’s and 1960’s (the parents) and those of people born

twenty years later, in the aftermath of the military

dictatorship and migration (the children) is evident in our

interviews. The first generation of Argentinean exiles had

experienced the “golden years” of prosperity in Argentina,

which coincided with Perón’s era.

Nowadays, the children of the exiles of 1970’s, due to the

different economic situation, encounter ever more obstacles

to have a coherent trajectory in the host society.

Not only labour market has become more unstable and dual,

but also southern European societies (Mingione, 2004) face

problems that exceed those of northern European societies,

where welfare state is stronger. In that context, our

interviewees find themselves in much more competitive

labour markets.

As the daughter of an Argentinean journalist that exiled

due to his political leftist activism, the next informant

was brought up in a left-wing family where she was

encouraged to look for a vocation. However, her university

degree in Biology, obtained in Barcelona, did not lead to a

suitable professional job, and she had to work in a string

of odd jobs before setting up a business of her own.

27

“Interviewer: And so, you got your degree and started working, you started looking for a job or where you already working? Respondent: I started working in no matter what because I did not want to return to my parent’s house, I wanted to return to Barcelona. And it was very difficult for me to find a job related to my degree. Furthermore, I was not yet graduated because I was lacking some optional credits that later did. After that, I began to work as a chambermaid, receptionist, and other; I have had jobs that were completely unrelated to my thing. I: You say you were missing some credits. Did you do an Erasmus or professional practice? R: Well. I did a workshop in the university and then the optional credits in Anthropology. I felt the need of changing and go out of the science faculty so I did it in Anthropology.” (Female, Argentinean, 31 years old).

In the previous paragraph it is evident that second

generation Argentineans, despite having attained formal

qualifications and diplomas in Spain, are in a worse

position than their parents in terms of attaining

recognition for their cultural and educational capital.

Downward social mobility and intermittent insertion in the

labour market are common.

An important factor to be taken into account when speaking

about social mobility amongst Argentineans is that the

experience of prosperity during the Peron years infused an

optimism that led many people to live a “bohemian”

lifestyle in which working for money was second to having

enriching life experiences. Having a bohemian lifestyle and

focusing in a vocation is the exact opposite of what

28

happened in 1990’s. Consumerism was heavily encouraged and

economic accumulation considered central.

The giant leap from being able to led a bohemian lifestyle

in the 1960’s to the forcefully materialistic and

consumerist Argentina of the 1990’s has had obvious effects

in the way children of Argentinean migrants live their

lives in comparison to their parents’. We can speak here

about the existence of a “misery of position” (Bourdieu,

1999) in which life expectations that were raised in the

specific conditions of prosperity that existed in the

country of origin decades ago are at odds with the

objective situation of families in the host country.

In the next paragraph, the son of an Argentinean artist,

now a free-lance graphic designer explains in his own words

why did he quit school due to disappointment with the

educational system and chose instead a well paid job that

did not require a university degree.

“Interviewer: Why, in between you have commented that you left primary school and what did you do, did you say you started working, didn’t you? In what? Respondent: Yes, well, I started (working) in high school, then, I started in the first year of high school and that year I was not very good at school and well, for other circumstances, by chance, I found myself a good job, everything was on its way, school did not went well but in contrast working life was perfect, I had a very well paid job, then I saw myself in that dilemma of what to do, I went maybe to the easiest or perhaps to what was most handy, and well, it was because of that, because of that I had that drop-out, and then when I restarted I became part of the new ESO (new high school), in a new school in Vilanova.

29

I: ¿And before in the first year of high school what happened that made you want to quit? R: Let’s see, on the one hand I did not have many incentives neither motivation because of what we were taught, so, in that school, on the other hand I also saw the lack of preparation that they gave us at school, I endured myself and also many classmates that ended up in that school, that well, we finished with a preparation that maybe was not that good. In a personal sense, we were humanitarian and so but we were lacking knowledge, so then, if you mix between the aimlessness, the lack of motivation and the ease that they give you outside the classroom to earn good money working little or just working in something that engages you more. You see it so easy that the balance goes to the other side, isn’t it? But, well, I am not justifying myself because other classmates even being difficult were more constant, they preoccupied much more and they went on. Some even continued and finished but they did not have that break that I did have.” (Argentinean, Male, 27 years old).

4. Concluding remarks

When reflecting on the experience of Argentinean migrants

and their descendants in early 21st century Spain, most

Argentinean migrants still remember their grandparents’

accounts of the experience of southern European migrants

arriving to Argentina in the early 20th century. Those

accounts highlighted the prosperity of the receiving

country and the warm welcome that the newly arrived had.

No more warm welcomes constitute the experience of

Argentinean in Spain. Argentinean migration in Spain has

been subjected to the same migration law that affects other

groups. Getting a job is as difficult for them as it is

from people from other, poorer, Latin American countries,

such as Venezuela or Colombia. Upward social mobility is

30

seen by children of Argentinean migrants as something than

implies being able to earn more money, even if the job is

less rewarding than the one their parents had back in the

country of origin. Ethnic mobilisation through associations

has tried to counter these dynamics, but it has tended to

“freeze” the community, restricting their ties with locals.

However, in individual terms, our fieldwork shows a

remarkable level of integration of Argentinean in Catalan

society.

Argentineans living in Spain for more than 10 years, that

is, prior to the mass arrival of migration, have often

settled successfully and found rewarding positions.

Furthermore, many are actively engaged in community and

social activities. Among the advantages that Argentinean

retain in contrast with other groups is the fact that many

have acquired Spanish nationality through ties with people

born in Spain. This means they access the national capital

(Hage, 2000) of the host society with greater ease than

nationals of other countries, effectively becoming locals

quite soon, at least compared with those that cannot proof

the same kinship ties.

In any case, the example of Argentinean migrants in

Catalonia shows us the importance of collective action in

the future of migrant groups in receiving countries. The

tradition of having a strong and stable State and a wide

network of state organisations has helped Argentinean

31

migrants to create a solid network of support and to

integrate successfully in the host society.

The only apparent drawback of such a successful integration

process is the danger of “ethnification” of the conflicts

and problems of the group. During the interviews, the

informants have repeatedly stated that they consider it is

not possible to speak of “Argentineans” as members of a

group because, in their own words, “Argentineans are all of

them different”. The only common trait for Argentineans

than they admit to share is that they enjoy speaking a lot.

A likely effect of recent events could be the creation of

an Argentinean community that would give much more

importance to traditional elements such as Tango and

“mate”, while it would discourage relationship with locals.

For children of Argentinean trying to enter the labour

market of the host society, this “ethnification” could be

an obstacle. As our fieldwork shows, downward social

mobility is a threat for the second generations.

Children of Argentinean immigrants have seen that the

previous professional experience of their parents was

undermined by administrative reasons and that the only jobs

they could get were often below their qualification. They

have lived through family crises provoked by economic

hardships and some have seen their parents split. Their own

educational trajectories have been erratic and

32

disappointing for them. The result, as seen in the

interviews, is widespread downward social mobility.

The balance would be part sweet, part sour. Argentineans,

as an immigrant group that shares language and culture and

a colonial past with the host society, are advantaged in

comparison with other immigrant groups. They have better

opportunities because they are more confident and active in

the host society than other migrant groups, something

related to the greater prosperity in Argentina.

Unfortunately, those advantages hinge on their differences

with other immigrant groups, whereas the possibilities for

overcoming the common obstacles that immigrant groups face

in the host society are dependant on their ability to act

together. Therefore social mobility contradicts with

mobilisation as an ethnic group with a distinct identity.

Our research project on immigrant mobility, language and

the second generation of migrants in Catalonia is still

ongoing. Comparison between the results obtained in the

different ethnic groups will be helpful sort out which

future holds for the children of migrants of different

ethnic groups.

33

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