The armenian association network in Buenos Aires and its relationship with the argentine state: evolution and outgoing characters.

Abstract

For the present paper we start from the idea that the Armenian associations constitute a privileged place to detect the cultural expressions and the production of a symbology of the membership; They are at the same time spaces for the discussion of perspectives and worldviews on the adaptation and the link of the Armenian collective with the "mother country". Given our interest in the links between the Armenian community and the receiving State, due to its role as police and regulation and / or management of migration flows, we will focus on the demands and reciprocal proposals between the two, as well as in its nature and historical vicissitudes.In our hypothesis we conjecture that in the period under study three phases of contrasting nature were verified.A first one, which we could call "phase of self-defense and mutual indifference".A second, which we call "phase of timid demands and discipline and legal control” in which the concerns of the Armenian community were oriented to the defense of their legal status. Finally, a third, which we will call "phase of institutionalization of specific demands and objectives", in which community organizations articulated active demands while the Argentine State responded with concrete policies. For this we rely on various sources such as community archives, minutes of Armenian associations, statutes and ethnic press, as well as public archives.