Moya, Jose C. Cousins and Strangers: Spanish

Moya, Jose C. Cousins and Strangers: Spanish Immigrants to Buenos Aires.

The title of Jose C. Moya's book Cousins and Strangers refers to the fact that the mass migrations of Spaniards to Argentina that occurred between the middle of the 19th century and the beginning of the Great Depression were distinct from other waves of immigrant migration. Buenos Aires is a tremendously diverse city and has been subject to many different influxes of new immigrant populations. But the new waves of Spaniards came from the nation that had once colonized Argentina, unlike the Italians, which comprised the largest ethnic community within the city. The Spaniards spoke a common language, might be distant relatives to some of the residents, and yet were culturally worlds apart.

Moya divides his book into two sections -- one about the Old World of Spain and the other about the New World the Spanish experienced in Buenos Aires. The first section examines the social, political, and economic reasons that Europeans in general, and the Spaniards in particular, sought to migrate to Argentina. Why did Buenos Aires become such a cosmopolitan city, and why did such a cultural divide occur between town and country? Then, he provides a statistical and anecdotal portrait of the different experiences of diverse Spanish immigrants. He examines short- and long-term residential patterns, their occupations, their developing cultural institutions and studies how the native culture of Argentina affected their religion, folklore, and ways of life. He also examines the initial and long-term reception of these new immigrants by residents. Moya feels that his work is necessary because previous histories have overstressed the poverty and the city experience as central to these immigrant's lives. He gives attention to overlooked and often unsavory aspects of created by immigration, like how the Creoles, or mixed race residents, were viewed with disdain, and were viewed as less desirable even than new immigrants by the elite leaders of the nation.

Moya's book is not merely historical; it is also sociological in the sense that he wishes to discover why individuals migrate. He examines the 'push-pull' theory of migration, which suggests that human migration occurs when social, political and economic forces push masses of individuals out of an origin country. These forces include poverty, economic and political oppression, or wars. Certain nations have pull factors that draw these groups into their borders, like economic opportunities, a common language, and an apparently similar culture or history, as occurred with the Spanish in Argentina. The European revolutions of the 19th century and the early wars of the 20th century are the most extreme examples of push factors, hence the sheer size of the migration.