Were Argentina’s pre-1930 European immigrants highly skilled? In the U.S., Italian immigrants in the early 20th century ranked near the bottom of all ethnic groups in terms of educational achievement, which led to unfortunate stereotypes and an early backlash against immigration.
I'm not sure they would qualify as highly skilled. They were certainly more skilled (higher literacy, etc...) than native Argentines, and I would guess more skilled than the Italians who migrated to the United States.
Backlash against Italians (and Spaniards) in Argentina took a different form, based on stereotypes of materialism, greed and rationalism:
"What the Argentine people needed, Moreira proclaims, is a bit of 'divine madness' or 'spiritual bohemia' that had—before the onset of massive immigration—been the essence of the national character. Only then could the nation be liberated from its current obsession with accumulation and material wealth. In short, in order to save itself, Argentina must return to the values of the past and embrace the spirit of the gaucho"
("Making Sense of Modernity: Changing Attitudes toward the Immigrant and the Gaucho in Turn-of-the-Century Argentina", Jeane Delaney).
Were Argentina’s pre-1930 European immigrants highly skilled? In the U.S., Italian immigrants in the early 20th century ranked near the bottom of all ethnic groups in terms of educational achievement, which led to unfortunate stereotypes and an early backlash against immigration.
I'm not sure they would qualify as highly skilled. They were certainly more skilled (higher literacy, etc...) than native Argentines, and I would guess more skilled than the Italians who migrated to the United States.
Backlash against Italians (and Spaniards) in Argentina took a different form, based on stereotypes of materialism, greed and rationalism:
"What the Argentine people needed, Moreira proclaims, is a bit of 'divine madness' or 'spiritual bohemia' that had—before the onset of massive immigration—been the essence of the national character. Only then could the nation be liberated from its current obsession with accumulation and material wealth. In short, in order to save itself, Argentina must return to the values of the past and embrace the spirit of the gaucho"
("Making Sense of Modernity: Changing Attitudes toward the Immigrant and the Gaucho in Turn-of-the-Century Argentina", Jeane Delaney).