• DOI:10.1215/00182168-83-3-604
• Corpus ID: 154285881

Citizenship, Labour Markets, and Democratization: Chile and the Modern Sequence (review)

@article{Drake2003CitizenshipLM,
  title={Citizenship, Labour Markets, and Democratization: Chile and the Modern Sequence (review)},
  author={Paul W. Drake},
  journal={Hispanic American Historical Review},
  year={2003},
  volume={83},
  pages={604 - 605}
}

• P. Drake
• Published 1 August 2003
• Political Science
• Hispanic American Historical Review

pean), but lingering racial stereotypes and derogatory terms (chilote) hindered full assimilation. Argentina’s neglect of the border area allowed the development of a “borderland” identity. Diego Escolar makes a compelling case for the shift of identities from Chilean to Argentinean in the town of Calingasta (San Juan). Before the 1940s, the town had an unmistakably Chilean flavor: its population, trade, festivities, memories, and even indigenous past harkened back to Chile. By the 1940s, however, rising nationalism in both countries rendered this state of affairs no longer admissible. The town was Argentinized by means of “seduction” (the extension of social welfare) and institutional coercion (the school system, the army, and customs) in the context of expanding domestic labor and commodity markets. A shift of identities (or allegiances, one might say)—from Chilean inhabitants in Argentine soil to Argentine citizens—strongly reflected these changes. In the wake of this process of Argentinization, all traces of an Indian past were erased. Susana Bandieri has done an excellent job at putting together this collection of fine scholarship, which contradicts the view of a mighty nation-state sucking up all regions in its unstoppable expansion. What is missing is a study of the impact of frequent border disputes between Chile and Argentina on borderland populations. So far, these disputes have been the terrain of military and diplomatic history, but they are a topic worth pursuing by social and cultural historians. Also, a substantial conclusion tying up the various themes that support the general thesis would help the reader cross the cordillera safely.