The Invention of the Jewish Gaucho: Villa Clara and the Construction of Argentine Identity (review)

Since the publication of Alberto Gerchunoff's stories in 1910, the saga of the Jewish gauchos has become a central part of the narrative of Argentine immigration. For both the descendants of early Jewish immigrants and Argentine society, it provided a cherished tale of successful integration—a symbolic link to the origins, for the former, and an example of the welcoming nature of the land and its people, for the latter. Judith Freidenberg refers to recent reevaluations of Gerchunoff's work but, despite its title, that is not the main focus of this book. Freidenberg is more interested in the topic suggested in the subtitle—a reassessment of the immigration narrative in the construction of Argentine identity from a local perspective. Since she has chosen the historical perspective of the inhabitants of Villa Clara—located at the heart of the rural settlements created by the efforts of Baron Maurice de Hirsch and the Jewish Colonization Association in the Province of Entre Ríos—Jewish rural immigration is an important element of this study, but not an exclusive one. (In fact, a central point in her retelling of the story of Jewish rural immigrants is that it cannot be understood in isolation, for they interacted and were influenced by previous inhabitants of the land and by settlers of a variety of ethnicities.) Thus, history and memory are the central foci of this book—in particular, how the past is remembered by peoples of diverse origins in Villa Clara as they construct the story of immigration of their ancestors from Europe and the place of different versions of that past in the collective and official history of the town. As the officially sanctioned local story has traditionally emphasized its Jewish origins, other European groups have found ways to claim a part in the foundational story, but the voices of the residents of non-European descent have remained marginal. Freidenberg proposes to revise this homogenous version of the local past—and, by implication, of Argentina's foundational immigration narrative—with a more complex reading that takes into account the influence of generation, ethnicity, class, and power dynamics.

The premise of the book is promising, yet the results are mixed. After an overview of different phases of immigration from Europe to Entre Ríos during the second half of the 19th century and the early 20th century (chapter 2), the book focuses on the history of Jewish rural colonization and the origins of Villa Clara (chapter 3), the integration of Jewish immigrants in the countryside (chapter 4), and the evolution of Villa Clara from a Jewish colony to multiethnic and socially diverse locality (chapters 5 and 6). The narration is interspersed by recollections from local residents, most of them descendants from European immigrants, as well as descriptions from local chroniclers and community historians. Several key points emerge from a mostly descriptive account, namely the diversity of experiences within the Jewish immigrant group and among early immigrants in general; the interdependence among immigrants and between immigrants and Argentines of nonimmigrant origin (criollos); the spatial transformation of Villa Clara; and the interplay of ethnicity and class in the local social makeup. The personal testimonies are good illustrations of the history of rural colonization in Entre Ríos and the transformation of Villa Clara, but they add little to what previous scholarship has shown. If the intention is to show the similarities and discrepancies between the local past as remembered by the descendants of European immigrants and the history of rural colonization which has crystallized in traditional historiography, that connection is largely left to the reader. Moreover, the reader is also solely responsible for connecting the case presented in this book and Freindenberg's analysis to the broader scholarship on Argentine immigration—how it contributes to it, revises it, or challenges it. This lack of dialogue with relevant scholarship is puzzling, as the history of Argentine immigration...