Transnational Mercenaries as Agents of Argentine National Construction in Moritz Alemann’s Immigration Propaganda (1874–1908)

This article analyzes a series of propaganda speeches by Moritz Alemann, a Swiss journalist and entrepreneur based in Buenos Aires, who aimed to attract Germanic investors for large-scale projects in Patagonia at the beginning of the twentieth century. Moving beyond traditional discussions of Germanic farmers and artisans as agents of Argentine national construction, I argue that the author’s refashioning of the Swiss mercenary for a modern business context reveals the practices of an elite group of transnational émigrés working for the advancement of their home and host countries and provides a more dynamic view of immigration in Argentina.