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yes, argentinian are whiter than other latin american nations, and we feel "proud" of it.. but you know, first time I have realized of my white skin was when I went to the states.. it seems to be more important there than in Argentina.
by the way, most argentinian people (including me) loves the states...
"el nacionalismo es una enfermedad que se cura viajando" cheers!!
To be honest many of the things I've read Argentina sounds like a poorly ran nation that's been surpassed in prosperity and development by Chile. (And that's partly going by an Argentine I "knew", I co-wrote a book review with him, at a science fiction forum)
Saying that I think they really are less "mestizo" than many, but certainly not all, Latin American countries doesn't mean I think they are actually like a European nation. It certainly doesn't mean they're necessarily "better" as I don't think having more European ancestry makes one "better."
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I'm from Barcelona and I have family in Buenos Aires. The left Barcelona during the 20's.
I feel at home in Buenos Aires, in fact they are more the way we were 50 years ago. Porteños are more Italian in their manners and thinking than Spanish. Italians had more weight in the development of the Porteños. Descendants of Italians are more Argentinean that many descendants of Spanish, that still cling to their homeland.
Buenos Aires is a European city, far more European that any North American city. A European city inhabited by descendants of Europeans. There are millions of Jews, Germans, Lithuanians, Armenians, 2,5 million Spanish born in Spain, millions of Italians born in Italy, etc, etc.
But as any North American city, there are non-white people in the outskirts, Gran Buenos Aires, or in the Slums. Those slums are equivalent to those black and Mexican ghettos present in all American cities. Those areas are packed with "cabecitas negras", Argentinean mestizos, or with illegals from South America.
In the Pampas and the southern provinces there's more presence of mestizos.
But going to the OP's original question, the answer is yes, definitely European. Europeans feel more at home there than in the US. In fact, the entire Latin American continent is far more European than North America.
Uruguay is also very European, and also Chile, even considering that most are mestizos.
There's a wrong assumption here.
"Europeaness" is not related to race, but to culture.
I've never been in any place as demoted from Europeaness than the United States, but many of their inhabitants claim European ancestry. Maybe they were Europeans in one point in their remote past, but their way of life, religion, urbanization, etc, veered them off wildly of current European culture.
Europeaness is more related to way of life, city planning, overall phylosophy, etc, etc.
In that sense, Mexico, Cuba, Colombia or Argentina and Chile feel more European, notwithstanding the fact that their inhabitants are white or not.
Why is Argentina so often portrayed as being so European? OK, Buenos Aires may have the architecture of Paris or Madrid, and the latest fashions in BA come from Europe...but that's it! Ethnically, studies show that half of Argentina's population is actually mestizo (with some indigenous blood). Most "white Americans or Europeans" attract attention in Argentina because they stand out so much. Politically, socially, economically (they have fallen far) it is Latin American and not Spain or Italy. Why is Argentina so often portrayed here in the US as "Europe in South America" when it is firmly in Latin America?
When I last visited Argentina I didn't stand out at all.
You'll find a majority of mestizo's in the north and the deep south, but overall it's a white country.
It has quite some European influence, due to the fact that migration has been recent, especially Italian and Spanish influence. Argentinian tourists or students in my country could not be distinguished from Spanish or Italian tourists or students.
But it's also latin American and not European. It's still the "new world", more adventurous than Europe with its old codes, cities and civilisation. Only the fact that it's so sparcely populated and its cuisine (meat, meat and meat!) make it stand out compared to Europe and look more similar to the other south and north American countries.
Even if you are mestizo, unless you really have really Indian features or culture, you are still white to me. Growing up in the US next to an Indian reservation, I knew many people with Indian blood. I never considered them to be anything but white unless they looked really Indian. I think most peope consider Johnny Depp white, for example. However, white should not be confused with European. I do think that the Argentine culture, in general, is closer to a southern european culture than American culture is to a European culture. I think that it is also true that in much of Latin America the middle or at least the upper classes are much more European in culture than the middle and upper classes of the United States. I found this to be true in Mexico City, and here in Brazil too although it depends somewhat on the region.
When I last visited Argentina I didn't stand out at all.
You'll find a majority of mestizo's in the north and the deep south, but overall it's a white country.
It has quite some European influence, due to the fact that migration has been recent, especially Italian and Spanish influence. Argentinian tourists or students in my country could not be distinguished from Spanish or Italian tourists or students.
But it's also latin American and not European. It's still the "new world", more adventurous than Europe with its old codes, cities and civilisation. Only the fact that it's so sparcely populated and its cuisine (meat, meat and meat!) make it stand out compared to Europe and look more similar to the other south and north American countries.
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I consider Spain or Italy far more innovative and "New World" than Argentina. Argentina is far more anchored in the past, more the way Europeans were one generation ago. Their Spanish, and the Spanish spoken in South America, is also older, more traditional.
They still dwelve in their times of glory. Not only meat, they have excellent pasta and Spanish cuisine for a fraction of the price paid in Spain.
I do think that the Argentine culture, in general, is closer to a southern european culture than American culture is to a European culture. I think that it is also true that in much of Latin America the middle or at least the upper classes are much more European in culture than the middle and upper classes of the United States. I found this to be true in Mexico City, and here in Brazil too although it depends somewhat on the region.
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True. Cultural references in Latin America are European. France was very important in the past, now Spain thanks to Dish Antennas, Internet, etc.
I think we should say that Argentina is more southern european. I doubt i or a german would feel very much at home in Argentina.
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Much more at home in any Latin American country than in the US. That's why Latin America is packed with Germans (not immigrants). There's no resemblance whatsoever between the US and England, even less between the US and other European countries.
People also have to take in count that "la generacion del 80" (a group of politicians/patriots that thinked our nation in the XIX century) thought this country as a country that wanted to imitate France, and favoured the european inmigration A LOT, and they thought the way to be a great nation was to favour european inmigration and educate very much at the spanish that were already here.
What did they do with indigenous and blacks that were here? they sent them to war to the front line and they executed them in "the desert campaign" (president JARoca in the end of XIX century killed thousands of indigenous that were living here!) cause they represented the barbaric.
So, yeah, this ended up being a european country and millons of europeans (specially italian and spanish) came here after WWI and WWII.
Im not proud of those thinkers of that generacion del 80 and i wish we were more connected to our roots, and to the people that originally lived here such as indigenous.
You still see some of that in the north of the country (traveled there recently) but none of it in Buenos Aires, with its european architecture, european people, european based education and big european influence.
Im not complaining about europeans, I am of course european (i have the nationality since my dad is a born italian) and all my grnadparents came from different parts of europe, and so its most of people from argentina and almost all people from Buenos Aires. But i think the way this country was originally thinked its at least a little bit racist.
And this country still remembers this "patriotics" with this racist ideas and homages them like they were heros.
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) cause they represented the barbaric
.