As someone with Irish ancestry (way, way back), I’ve written a bit before about Irish immigration to Argentina. A great resource for this topic is the wonderful Irish Migration Studies in Latin America (IMSLA).
The latest issue of IMSLA, Sporting Traditions in Latin America and Ireland, focuses largely on Argentina. In his introduction to the issue, guest editor John Kennedy explains
As the articles in this journal demonstrate, the contribution of the Irish and subsequently Irish-Argentines to the sporting landscape was varied and wide-ranging. Many Irish people who worked for British-owned railways or businesses were either co-founders or members of the first sports institutions, initially cricket clubs and later football and rugby clubs.
Even if you don’t have a strong interest in sports, there are a lot of fascinating historical insights about Buenos Aires and Argentina in these well-researched articles.
April 21st, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Jeff,
As always, an interesting post about the city that never ceases to fascinate. Thanks for the tip on that journal’s site!
There’s a book I didn’t manage to win on eBay but I’d like to get my hands on (perhaps only available in Argentina and the British Isles in translation?) by Edmundo O’Murray, “Becoming Irlandes”. Here’s a description:
“Among Latin American countries, Argentina received the largest immigration from Ireland. After a number of years, some of the emigrants went back home or re-emigrated to North America, Australia and other regions. Others settled in the Argentine pampas and founded families that during generations developed their own sets of values and beliefs. Collectively, they shaped the largest Irish community in the Spanish-speaking world. Including unpublished emigrant letters and memoirs of Irish settlers and their families, this book explores the community’s evolution since its early years to the integration into the larger Argentinian society in the twentieth century. This revised edition in English includes the original texts of letters and memoirs, as well as new documents and substantial new thinking on the roles of identity and nationalism.”
BECOMING IRLANDÉS, PRIVATE NARRATIVES OF THE IRISH EMIGRATION TO ARGENTINA (1844-1912), BY EDMUNDO MURRAY, L.O.L.A., BUENOS AIRES 2006.
April 23rd, 2008 at 6:15 am
Edmundo’ book ‘Becoming Irlandés’ is on sale at Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop,
The Cornstore, Middle Street, Galway
+353 91 561766
info@charliebyrne.com
http://www.charliebyrne.com