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Toward Asian Argentine Studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2022

Chisu Teresa Ko
Chisu Teresa Ko*
Affiliation:
Ursinus College
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Abstract

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Asians in Argentina have received little scholarly attention despite the current proliferation of studies on Asians in Latin America. Asian Argentines' absence from academic research reflects, in part, their marginality and presumed foreignness in Argentina's past and current national narratives. Existing scholarship frames Asian descendants predominantly as members of single-ethnic colectividades (communities) illustrating ties to co-ethnics and country of origin. To broaden this perspective, I examine the possibilities of a panethnic and domestic “Asian Argentine” approach. Conceptualizing an Asian Argentine category can be problematized by ongoing theoretical discussions regarding the limitations of multiculturalism and nation-based inquiries. Situating these critiques in Argentina's particular context—from its historical insistence on whiteness to its newly ethnicized political arena today—I argue that an Asian Argentine approach can be a useful analytical and political tool to understand this group's position in Argentina and serve as a starting point to challenge the discourses that marginalize Asian Argentines as nonexistent or irreversibly foreign.

Resumen

Resumen

A pesar de la actual proliferación de estudios sobre los asiáticos en América Latina, pocos estudios han prestado atención a la población asiática en Argentina. Esta ausencia refleja, en cierto modo, la posición marginal y presunta condición de extranjeros de los asiáticos en las narrativas nacionales argentinas de la actualidad y del pasado. Las investigaciones hasta ahora producidas suelen aproximarse a este grupo como miembros de “colectividades” étnicas destacando sobre todo el desarrollo de lazos étnicos y con el país de origen. Con el fin de ampliar esta perspectiva, este artículo explora la posibilidad de una aproximación “asiático-argentina,” con un enfoque a la vez pan-étnico y doméstico. Conceptualizar una categoría “asiático-argentina” se problematiza por los debates actuales sobre las limitaciones del multiculturalismo y las investigaciones estrictamente nacionales. Situando estos debates críticos dentro del contexto particular de la Argentina —desde su histórica insistencia sobre la blancura nacional y la etnicización del espacio político hoy en día—, este trabajo propone que una perspectiva asiático-argentina puede servir como una estrategia analítica y política para entender la posición de este grupo, y como punto de partida para refutar los discursos que marginalizan a los argentinos de ascendencia asiática como inexistentes o como irreversiblemente extranjeros.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 51 , Issue 4 , 2016 , pp. 271 - 290
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 by the Latin American Studies Association

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