Asian Argentines

Asian Argentine, are Argentine citizens or residents of Asian ancestry. The vast majority trace their ancestry to West Asia, primarily Lebanon and Syria, and East Asia, namely China and Japan. Though there are other communities of South Asian or Southeast Asian origin as well. Asian-Argentines settled in Argentina in large numbers during several waves of immigration in the twentieth century.

Asian Argentines
Total population
over 1,000,000
Regions with significant populations
Buenos Aires · Córdoba
Languages
Spanish · Arabic · Punjabi · Chinese · Min Nan/Taiwanese Ho-lo · Japanese · Korean · Lao
Religion
Buddhism · Hinduism · Christianity · Islam · Shinto · Sikhism · Jainism · Zoroastrianism · Baháʼí · Judaism · Taoism
Related ethnic groups
Asians · Asian Americans · Asian Canadians · Asian Australians

History

The first Asian Argentines were Filipinos and were fellow subjects under Spanish colonization. Eventually, Filipinos joined the Argentines in the Argentine war of independence. Filomeno V. Aguilar Jr. in his paper: “Manilamen and seafaring: engaging the maritime world beyond the Spanish realm”, that in the case of the Argentine war of independence wherein an Argentine of French descent, Hypolite Bouchard, who was a privateer for the Argentine army, when he laid siege to Monterey California, his second ship, the Santa Rosa which was captained by the American Peter Corney, had a multi-ethnic crew which included Filipinos.[1] Mercene, writer of the Book “Manila Men”, proposes that those Manilamen were recruited in San Blas, an alternative port to Acapulco Mexico where several Filipinos had settled during the Manila-Acapulco Galleon trade era.[2]

In the 19th century, Argentina saw a wave of West Asian immigrants, particularly from Lebanon and Syria (who were provinces of the Ottoman Empire at the time) due to the 1860 Mount Lebanon civil war.[3] East Asian immigrants, particularly the Japanese came largely from Okinawa Prefecture in small numbers during the early twentieth century. The overthrow of Juan Perón in 1955 precipitated a long period of unrest and economic instability that stemmed Japanese immigration after 1960. The second wave consisted primarily of Korean entrepreneurs, settling in Buenos Aires during the 1960s, and the third wave was mostly composed of Chinese entrepreneurs, who settled in Buenos Aires during the 1990s.

By the later half of the 20th century, Asian Argentines were active in politics, with an example of a political party being a special Unidad Básica (Peronist) party office under the name Unión de Residentes Taiwaneses Justicialistas ("Union of Justicialist Taiwanese Residents) at the heart of Buenos Aires's Chinatown Arribeños & Mendoza. This branch later closed, presumably as assimilation continued, while a regular Unidad Básica opened across the street.

Society
Chinese New Year celebration in Buenos Aires' Chinatown
A small neighbourhood grocery store in Buenos Aires owned by Asian-Argentines

Today, there are over 1 million Asian Argentines, the largest being those of Lebanese and Syrian descent, who total at around 3.5 million.[4] The Lebanese alone are estimated to be about 1.5 million,[5] The Chinese are next with around 120,000 of Chinese descent,[6] 65,000 of Japanese descent,[7] and 25,000 of Korean descent.[8]

There are an estimated 1 million Arabic speakers in Argentina, the most in Latin America.[9]

Koreans live primarily in the Balvanera and Flores (where the Koreatown is located) districts of Buenos Aires, and are mainly involved in the manufacturing and selling of textiles.

Meanwhile, many Chinese live in Chinatown, which also has a Buddhist temple in Belgrano. Many are involved with grocery retailing, which has caused Chinese-owned stores to become a common feature of Buenos Aires.

Younger generations of Chinese-Argentines (dubbed ArgenChinos) have readily adopted local ways, with some becoming celebrities, including athletes, a film director and an anchorwoman.

The Japanese-Argentine community, located mostly in Pablo Nougués city where a large temple was built, has fully integrated themselves into Argentine society today. Sources believe that 78% of the 4th generation Japanese-Argentine community is of mixed European ancestry, while the 3rd generation is 66% mixed, and a majority of them have non-Japanese ancestors and relatives. The Japanese-Argentine community is less visible due to the intermixing with the European immigrants that have also settled in Argentina like the Italians, Spaniards, German, French, Irish, Polish and Swiss. Today they are one of the most distinguishable communities in Argentina because of their mixed race. Many of their Asian features are almost not visible due to their ancestry. In Buenos Aires, the "Jardín Japonés" (Japanese Garden and Teahouse) has become a traditional landmark of the city since its opening 30 years ago.

Other Asian-Argentines include smaller clusters of ethnic Laotians, Thai, Cambodian, Vietnamese and Hmong, most of whom arrived in the aftermath of conflict in Southeast Asia in the 1970s. They run restaurants, small groceries and vending stands, or are involved in agricultural work. After arriving in Argentina, Lao community settled in Misiones, where the Argentine government provided land and the UN provided $10,000 in financial assistance to each family. In 1997, a Lao temple, Wat Rattanarangsiyaram, was constructed in Posadas.[10]

Discrimination

Historically, immigrants from the Levant region of Western Asia, particularly the Lebanese and Syrians, have faced some discrimination. In 1910, Senator Manuel Lainez presented a project to expel Lebanese and Syrian immigrants regardless of their religious background (Christian, Jewish, etc), but was stopped by Joaquín V. González. González argued that they were the most "European" in Asia and hard-working.[11] Though this did not stop certain discrimination against them.[12]

Presently, the reputation of the East Asian community in the country has been jeopardized due to allegations of corrupt business practices. Investigations within Korean-Argentine textile factories and stores have shown that illegal workers from Bolivia were employed in these places.[13][14] Because of this, many Korean-Argentines feel that their community has been unfairly targeted due to their economic success.

Another incident occurred in June 2006, when the union of truck drivers began a boycott of Chinese-owned stores. This was due to an alleged gun-related incident between a driver and a store owner, which involved illegal firearms.[15] Shortages in stores were reported due to a lack of deliveries until the boycott was officially lifted the following month.[16]

Notable people

See also

Notes
  1. Delgado de Cantú, Gloria M. (2006). Historia de México. México, D. F.: Pearson Educación.
  2. Mercene, Manila men, p. 52.
  3. "Sirios, turcos y libaneses" [Syrians, Turks and Lebanese] (in Spanish). oni.escuelas.edu.ar. Archived from the original on 11 December 2008.
  4. "Inmigración sirio-libanesa en Argentina". Archived from the original on 3 December 2009. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  5. Argentinian President's visit to the Lebanese Parliament. the Lebanese Parliament. lp.gov.lb
  6. 27/9/2010 clarin.com January 2009
  7. Argentina inicia una nueva etapa en su relación con Japón - November 21, 2016
  8. 재외동포현황/Current Status of Overseas Compatriots, South Korea: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 2009, retrieved 2009-05-21
  9. Lizcano Fernández, Francisco. "Composición Étnica de las Tres Áreas Culturales del Continente Americano al Comienzo del Siglo XXI" [Ethnic Composition of the Three Cultural Areas of the American Continent at the Beginning of the 21st Century] (PDF). Convergencia. Revista de Ciencias Sociales (in Spanish). Toluca, México: Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México: 201. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 June 2013. Del millón y medio de hablantes de árabe que aproximadamente vive en la región, dos tercios residen en Argentina.
  10. "Laotians in Argentina". VoA. 24 May 2007. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
  11. "Recopilaron casi 200 años de los sirio libaneses en Argentina". El Independiente (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 8 September 2014. Retrieved 9 November 2021. González convenció a sus pares de rechazarla, con el argumento de que eran "los más europeos del Asia y son sumisos y laboriosos".
  12. "Recopilaron casi 200 años de los sirio libaneses en Argentina". El Independiente (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 8 September 2014. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  13. "Trabajo esclavo: declaran que pagaban coimas a la Policía" - Clarín. (in Spanish)
  14. "Cerraron otros 11 talleres y 3.000 bolivianos marcharon en protesta" - Clarín. (in Spanish)
  15. Los camioneros ratifican el boicot a los súper y autoservicios chinos - Clarín. (in Spanish)
  16. Los camioneros firmaron oficialmente la tregua con los supermercados chinos - Clarín. (in Spanish)

References
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