Nación y territorio: la dimensión simbólica del espacio en la construcción nacional argentina. Siglo XIX

Abstract

This article studies the links between the symbolical dimension of the territory and ethnic interaction in Argentina during the 19th Century. The analysis focuses on the theoretical assumptions of the interaction between nation and territory in the framework of the «civic» model assumed by the Spanish American Republics; the consolidation of a territorial ideology implying the unification and integration –both symbolical and physical– of the national space; the symbolic dimension of a concept –«desert»– in the framework of the Argentinian national building process; and finally the treatment of ethnic diversity which aimed at homogeneizing the indigenous, African and immigrant elements at the imaginary level, on the basis of «territory» as the main principle of integration.