As the world economy became increasingly open during the 19th century, by 1930, Argentina embraced this open world market through open trade relations, adoption of new communications and transportation technologies, and notably through the form of open borders for immigrants from Europe. By the turn of the 19th century, immigrants constituted 43 percent of Argentina’s population, and half of the 1.3 million people in Buenos Aires.
Yet, during the 1870s to 1930, societal anxieties about the racial and national identity of Argentina articulated national protectionism in the form of eugenic immigration policies. International racial thought influenced ideas of economic development, as certain races were seen as more “civilized” and therefore economically productive. Despite Argentina’s generally open borders, its immigration policies were deeply concerned with the global phenomenon of eugenics, “a movement of ‘race improvement.”
Latin American states espoused the concept of “constructive miscegenation”, the idea that racial improvement could be achieved through the mixing of races. Argentina’s constructive miscegenation was visible in the discourse of “whitening”, racial mixing for the purpose of absorbing the “lower races” into the white population and white and productive national identity. Argentina’s conceptualization of constructive miscegenation as “whitening” was heavily based not only concerns of racial degeneration but also of the nation’s economic future.
The Argentine state sought “whitening” through formal institutions and documents. The 1853 Constitution established a firm and legal basis of support for European immigration, allocating an article to officially commit to European immigration. The 1876 “Ley de fomento de la inmigración europea” sought to control immigration to construct a national identity of economic productivity and racial idealizations. The legal document prohibits the entry of individuals unable to participate in the economy, while promoting the entry of white Europeans who were seen as productive, through subsidized housing and medical assistance, for example.
The international discourse of racial and national identities and their economic counterparts up to 1930 continue with long-lasting effects today. Argentina continues to characterize itself and be characterized as a white nation, and this has important effects in its role in the international economy.