Emotions and Migration in Argentina at the Turn of the 20th Century

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Description

Revealing the lives of migrant couples and transnational households, this book explores the dark side of the history of migration in Argentina during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Using court records, censuses, personal correspondence and a series of case studies, Mara Bjerg offers a portrayal of the emotional dynamics of transnational marital bonds and intimate relationships stretched across continents. Using microhistories and case studies, this book shows how migration affected marital bonds with loneliness, betrayal, fear and frustration. Focusing primarily on the emotional lives of Italian and Spanish migrants, this book explores bigamy, infidelity, adultery, domestic violence and murder within official and unofficial unions. It reveals the complexities of obligation, financial hardship, sacrifice and distance that came with migration, and explores how shame, jealousy, vengeance and disobedience led to the breaking of marital ties. Against a backdrop of changing cultural contexts Bjerg examines the emotional languages and practices used by adulterous women against their offended husbands, to justify domestic violence and as a defence against homicide. Demonstrating how migration was a powerful catalyst of change in emotional lives and in evolving social standards, Emotions and Migration in Early Twentieth-century Argentina reveals intimate and disordered lives at a time when female obedience and male honour were not only paramount, but exacerbated by distance and displacement.

Reviews

An extraordinary beautiful book about migration, love and abandonment. Mara Bjerg explores one lost chapter in the universal history of suffering. A fascinating journey through the archives of two continents and three countries that will compel anyone interested in the political history of the emotions. * Javier Moscoso, Institute of History, Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), Spain *

Author Bio

Mara Bjerg is Professor of Social History at Universidad Nacional de Quilmes and researcher at the National Research Council, Argentina. Her work lies at the intersection between the history of migration and the history of emotions.