The study of Arabs in Latin America has grown steadily over the last 20 years, especially with regard to diaspora communities in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, where most Syrians and Lebanese have migrated since the end of the nineteenth century. Most scholars working in this field write about the migratory patterns and distribution of Arabs inside Latin American states, the extent of their economic and socio-cultural integration and their building of ethnic communities and associations. Recently, transnational movements and economic links, religion and gender have also started to gain attention. Although this new book by Raanan Rein (who is a well-established scholar of Argentine history, focusing in particular on the Jewish and Arab communities in that country) and Ariel Noyjovich is situated within these current studies, its focus falls on a field of research that has so far received little attention: namely the political integration of Argentines of Arab origin and descent during the period of Peronism (1946–55). Therefore, the authors not only refer to the narratives of Arab communities in Argentina (Chapters 3 to 5), which they explore by referring to articles from various ethnic magazines, but also analyse the discourses of Juan and Eva Perón (Chapters 1 and 2), alongside other contemporary politicians. By adding the viewpoint of Argentines of non-Arab descent, they thus avoid a one-sided perspective.
The selected time period is especially interesting not only because of the political and economic upheavals that took place in Argentina under Juan Perón, but also because of the international events that followed the Second World War, such as the reconfiguration of world powers, the independence of Syria (1946) and Lebanon (1943), the founding of the State of Israel and the coming conflicts between the Palestinians and Israelis. Within this international political and economic context, Perón searched for ways to secure Argentine sovereignty and economic growth via a nationalist-populist ideology, thus adopting an Argentine Third Position (Tercera Posición) between capitalism and communism and forging links with the new allies he found in states such as Syria, Lebanon and Israel. The domestic policies of Peronism were characterised by efforts to stimulate internal industrialisation and grow its electoral base by integrating formerly marginalised sectors of the population, such as the working classes, women, migrants and ethnic communities. Throughout the book, the authors argue convincingly that Peronism broke away from the former domestic policies that sought the socio-cultural assimilation of migrants, the so-called crisol de razas (melting pot), by adopting a more tolerant, multiculturalist stance that enabled migrants and their descendants to participate in the political system without effacing their ancestral ties. This position of ethnic and ideological ‘tolerance’ of Peronism gained broad support among Arab and other ethnic communities in Argentina, but also stimulated the formation of neo-fascist and neo-Nazi subjectivities among Argentine-Italians and Argentine-Germans. In this way, Peronism enabled the emergence of multiple collective political subjectivities.
Rein and Noyjovich divide their book into an introduction, five chapters and an epilogue. They start by describing the migration politics of Argentina throughout the twentieth century and outline some ideas about their analytical concepts, of which ‘citizenship’ is the most fruitful for their analysis. However, the strength of the book does not rest on its conceptual foundations, but rather on its systematic exposition of various personal biographies and family histories. In this way, it reveals and contrasts many examples of political careers of Argentine-Arabs, describing their biographical complexities in ways that avoid the construction of stereotyped narratives. In addition, the authors compare these cases with those of Argentines of Jewish and occasionally even Japanese descent, thus allowing the reader to gain an impression of the more general patterns of political integration that took place during Peronism, but without losing sight of the particularities of the Arab case. Nevertheless, it is feasible to suppose that further comparisons with the contrasting cases of Germans and Italians, who were not marginalised by the former Argentine government, would have further benefitted the analysis by illustrating the extent of Perón's ‘integrationist discourses’.
Chapters 1 and 2 give an overview of Arab migration to Latin America and Argentina in particular. Referring to selected speeches made by politicians during the period of Peronism, these chapters reconstruct the integrationist discourses of Peronism. In the second chapter, the authors show how Peronism achieved the political integration of Argentine-Arabs by politicising their ethnic associations and print media, and facilitating the formation of ethnic Peronist commissions to support Perón's political agendas, thus in turn offering Argentine-Arabs the possibility to take up public functions.
Chapter 3 situates Peronist politics in its international context and describes the formation of diplomatic relations between Argentina, Syria and Lebanon. The authors give examples of transnational political and economic relations between Argentina and Arab countries at the personal, organisational and national levels. Furthermore, they demonstrate that Arab associations not only served as mediators between Arab communities and the Argentine political realm, but also were of great importance in the formation of diplomatic relations between Argentina and Arab countries. On the national level, the chapter discusses the support given by Arab associations and magazines to Perón's re-election. Particularly interesting is the section on the role of Arab women and associations in Peronism, as well as a biographical section on Jorge Antonio Chibene that provides an atypical narrative of an Argentine-Arab involved in Argentine politics.
While the previously discussed chapters illustrate the strategies of Peronism for integrating Argentine-Arabs into the political elite, Chapters 4 and 5 change the perspective by casting light on the socio-economic context that permitted the political ascent of Argentine-Arabs. The authors approach this endeavour by referring to the provinces of Tucumán and Santiago del Estero as examples, describing the various ways in which Argentine-Arab families and persons living in those areas converted their accumulated economic and social capital (the latter resting on participation in ethnic associations, being eulogised in ethnic magazines and generally being well known in local society) into political capital at the local and regional levels. Further, they show that it was mostly second-generation Argentine-Arabs holding university degrees who entered the public realm in the municipalities and provinces and that the process of integration had already started in the 1930s, but gained momentum during the period of Perón's government.
Finally, the epilogue concentrates on the attitudes of the Argentine-Arab associations and press during the post-Perón era and how the Peronist period pioneered the presidency of Carlos Menem, who is of Syrian descent, in the 1990s. Despite its excellent research, no bibliographical references are given in the book's text; the authors bemoan this decision made by the publisher in their introduction. In conclusion, Rein and Noyjovich have provided a thoughtful history which is conscious of its constructive-interpretative character. The authors present multiple voices, not only from the period in question, but also traced further back in history. The book should be of interest to both scholars and undergraduate students focusing on migration and diaspora studies in the fields of history, political science, anthropology, geography and sociology as well as to those working on Peronism.
