Vida
familiar en colonias tardías periurbanas: Sociabilidad y condiciones de vida
(Buenos Aires, Argentina: 1950-1970)*
Celeste De
Marco[1]
CONICET/CEAR-UNQ
Reception: 15/05/2015
Evaluation: 11/06/2015
Approval: 10/11/2015
Research and Innovation Article.
Resumen
En la segunda mitad del siglo XX, la Argentina
experimentó los últimos ensayos de una política de larga tradición, la
colonización agrícola. Generalmente, se seleccionaban tierras en la zona
pampeana, vinculadas al tradicional perfil productivo agroexportador. No
obstante, ciertas zonas del periurbano bonaerense y platense fueron objeto de
interés por su capacidad de generar alimentos fácilmente ubicables en las
ciudades cercanas y radicar familias, sin embargo, poco es lo que se ha
indagado sobre éstas últimas. En el presente estudio nos proponemos indagar
sobre el carácter multiétnico de sus orígenes, sus trayectorias, modos de
trabajo, y prácticas de sociabilidad en estos particulares espacios, para lo
cual seleccionamos los casos de las colonias “La Capilla” (Florencio Varela,
zona sur del Gran Buenos Aires) y “Justo José de Urquiza” (La Plata, capital
provincial). Encontramos que las colonias se consolidaron por la formación de
asociaciones formales e informales como espacios de sociabilidad, caracterizado
por la fundamental participación de las familias y de los sujetos, que
aportaban al entramado desde sus roles y saberes. De modo particular, los
niños, como sujetos sociales, lejos de ser periféricos o marginales, cumplieron
la función de articular los espacios en los que sus familias se radicaron.
Palabras
clave: Familias, Niñez, Periurbano, Sociabilidad, Buenos Aires, Colonización.
Family life in late peri-urban communities: Sociability and living conditions
(Buenos Aires, Argentina: 1950-1970)
Abstract
During
the second half of the 20th century, Argentina went through the last
attempts at a policy with a long-standing tradition, known as agricultural
colonization. Usually, lands in the
pampa zone with a traditional productive and agro-export profile were selected.
Nevertheless, certain peri-urban areas of the cities
of Buenos Aires and La Plata became of interest because of their highly
productive soil, their location near to major urban centers, and their capacity
to house families. However, these areas have not been studied carefully and
need to be explored. With this study, we propose to look into the situation of
the families that lived in this specific context, addressing their multi-ethnic
origins, trajectories, work methods, and social practices. For this purpose, we
selected two communities: “La Capilla” (Florencio
Varela, southern zone, Greater Buenos Aires) and “Justo José de Urquiza” (La Plata, capital city of the province). We found
that these communities were consolidated by the formation of formal and
informal societies, characterized by the participation of the families and
subjects who contributed to the community through their roles and practical
knowledge. It was found that children played a particularly important role as
social subjects, articulating the different spaces in which their families
lived.
Key words: Families, Childhood, Peri-urban, Sociability, Buenos Aires, Colonization.
Vie
familiale dans des colonies tardives périurbaines: Sociabilité et conditions de
vie (Buenos-Aires, Argentine: 1950-1970)
Résumé
Pendant la seconde moitié du XXe siècle, l’Argentine a
vécu les dernières tentatives d’une politique de longue halène:
la colonisation agricole. Généralement, on choisissait à la Pampa des terres à
vocation productive pour l’agro-exportation traditionnelle. Cependant,
certaines zones du périurbain de Buenos Aires et La Plata
ont étés convoités à cause de leur capacité de produire des aliments et abriter
des familles.
Comme dans cet article nous nous proposons d’étudier les
origines multi-ethniques de ces familles, ainsi que leurs trajectoires, modes
de travail, et pratiques de sociabilité, nous avons choisi les cas des colonies
dites de “La Capilla” (Florencio
Varela, au sud du Grand Buenos-Aires) et “Justo José
de Urquiza” (La Plata, capital provinciale). Ces
colonies se sont consolidées à travers la formation d’associations formelles et
informelles qui sont devenues des espaces de sociabilité, caractérisés par la
participation des familles et des individus, qui ont mis à profit leurs rôles
et savoirs. De manière particulière, les enfants, en tant que sujets sociaux,
loin d’être périphériques ou marginaux, ont permis d’articuler les espaces dans
lesquels ces familles se sont établies.
Mots
clés: Familles, Enfance, Périurbain, Sociabilité, Buenos
Aires, Colonisation.
Vida
suburbana família em colônias final: sociabilidade e condições de vida (Buenos Aires, Argentina: 1950-1970)
Resumo
Na segunda metade do século XX, a Argentina experimentou
os ultimos ensaios de uma tradicional política, colonização
agrícola. Geralmente, as terras
foram selecionadas nos
Pampas, ligado ao perfil de produção
agrícola de exportação. No entanto,
certas áreas periurbanas de Buenos Aires e La Plata foram objecto de interesse por sua capacidade de produzir alimentos perto das cidades, e pra estabelecer famílias. No presente
estudo pretende-se investigar o caráter
multiétnico de suas origens,
seus trajetórias, a organização de trabalho e as práticas de sociabilidade nestas áreas específicas. Duas colónias foram escolhidas para esta finalidade:
"La Capilla" (Florencio Varela, Zona Sur Grande Buenos Aires) e
"Justo José de Urquiza" (La Plata, capital da província).
Descobrimos que as colônias
foram consolidadas pela formação
de associações formais e informais como espaços de sociabilidade, onde a participação das famílias e dos indivíduos foi fundamental, contribuindo de seus papéis e conhecimentos. Especialmente, infância,
longe de ser periférico ou
marginal, cumpriu a função
de articular os espaços onde
as suas famílias assentadas.
Palavras-chave: famílias, crianças, periurbano, sociabilidade,
Buenos Aires, colonização.
1.
Introduction
During the Second Five-Year Plan of Peron (1946-1955)
it was considered that the lands near the big cities were essential spaces for
the production of vegetables, which would be easily marketable because of the proximity
to the cities, made cheaper by the lower costs of transport. But, with the aim
of diffusing the demographic weight of the cities that continued to be fed by
the supplies from both outside and within the country, the establishment of
families in these environments was also considered.
In this way, the interest in the rural areas
surrounding the cities resulted in a concrete policy for the creation of
agricultural colonies that should have a strong horticultural profile, and especially,
fruit or milk[2].
Thus, in the early years of the 1950s, enterprises were established that
presented a complex multi-ethnic situation, varied trajectories, with new
practices of sociability, tending towards integration into the new environment.
In the following decades, although intermittently, the official interest in
encouraging the settlement of family groups, in peri-urban
environments, was maintained. Accordingly, the present study aims to make a
contribution, analyzing the living conditions and the
development of families in this type of spaces, which were particularly dynamic
and expanding during the selected period.
To address the topic, we selected two colonies located
in environments of transition between the rural and urban: "Colonia La Capilla"[3]
(1952), located in the rural area of the territorial division of Florencio Varela's, southern
zone of Greater Buenos Aires, and Colonia Justo José of Urquiza
"(1951, hereinafter" Colonia Urquiza
") in Melchor Romero, territorial division of La
Plata.
We used an
essentially qualitative methodological strategy, as we set out to understand
the mentioned aspects through the narrative of the subjects themselves. In
order to do this, we rely on a series of semi-structured interviews, with open
questions, made to ex-colonists of different nationalities between 2011 and
2015. The data gathered through the interviews was contrasted through the
critical analysis of primary sources collected from various repositories.
The hypothesis we hold is that the participation of
the families and their members that contributed from their diverse roles,
trajectories and expertise, and the consequent construction of formal and informal
associations that functioned as spaces for sociability, were determinant in the
consolidation and survival of the colonies. In a particular way, children, as
social subjects, far from being peripheral or marginal, fulfilled the function
of articulating these spaces, while their presence allowed the creation of
schools, kindergartens, along with other activities oriented to them, which reaffirmed
the links between adults.
2.
The cases of “La Capilla”
and “Justo José de Urquiza” and the colonizing
policies of the period 1950-1970
In 1940 the National Law of Colonization No. 12,636
was promulgated, the genesis of the National Agrarian Council (CAN, by its
acronym in Spanish), a policy that questioned rent as a form of unstable tenure
and unfavorable for the settlement of rural families.
Two years later, the province of Buenos Aires joined the CAN (Law No. 4,911),
an agency that came under the Ministry of Labor and
Social Security, headed by Colonel Juan D. Perón.
Thus, the colonizing actions were used for propagandistic purposes by Peronism in state of consolidation. In 1946, when Perón was elected president, the functions of the CAN were
absorbed by the Banco de la Nación
Argentina (BNA, by its acronym in Spanish), marking a stage of intense
activity, especially in 1948[4].
In this climate of ideas and actions, the governor of Buenos Aires, Domingo A. Mercante (1946-1952), placed special interest in
colonization, so that in 1948 he re-founded the Autarchic Institute of
Colonization (IAC, by its acronym in Spanish), which had been created
originally in 1936 and had been inactive. During his governorship, the greatest
number of colonization fields were registered, and as well, the Triennial Plan
of public works (1947-1949) showed the interest in prioritizing peri-urban spaces[5].
In fact, in 1951, Governor Mercante stated that
"he has not been unaware of the concern of this government, the solution
of the problem of the supply of basic agricultural products to the large
population centers[6].”
At the national level, CAN's activity began to decline
as of 1949 and was especially scarce during the economic crisis of 1952, when
the increase in agricultural production was prioritized. Governor Carlos V.
Aloe (1952-1955) led the province in the new direction of national decisions,
exemplified in the reform of the Colonization Act of 1954, which indicated the
safeguarding of property[7].
The new actions of the IAC were supported by the objectives set forth in the
Second Five-Year Plan (1952-1955), and although acquisitions of new fields
declined, colonies planned during the commercialism
period (1946-1952) were founded. In this national and provincial context of the
initial drive for colonization, followed by a reduction and use of the same
rather for rhetorical purposes, the colonies we selected for our study were
founded.
Graphic 1. Location of “Colonia La
Capilla” and “Justo José de Urquiza”
Source:
elaborated by the author, based on https://maps.google.com.ar/
The "Colonia La Capilla"
was a provincial project that began in 1948, when the IAC acquired, by public
tender, 1,587 hectares that made up the old estancia "Santo Domingo",
belonging to the Scottish Davidson family (see Graphic 1)
[8].
The rural area of the territorial division of Florencio Varela, south of
Greater Buenos Aires, was selected, in a space with a cattle ranching and dairy
tradition, in a state of full productive transformation towards horticulture,
which the new enterprise came to consolidate. In this way, strategically close
to the capital city of the territorial division (15 kilometers)
and the Federal Capital (30
kilometers), it was composed of three portions formed by lots of
4 to 10 hectares payable over 30 years. The lots and the bids were made between 1952-1953, and families responded to the call
through the circulation of the news in their social spaces, official
dissemination, or entry via bilateral international agreement, which affected
only a few Italians.
The "Colonia Urquiza",
for its part, was a national project of the BNA that bought, in 1951, some
lands from the owner John May in a rural area of the
locality of Melchor Romero, only 10 kilometers from the capital of the province of Buenos
Aires, La Plata (see Graphic 1).
The land was divided into nine portions with 101 plots
of 4 to 13 hectares, which settlers could pay for within 10 years of their
installation (Provincial Decree No. 10.024 / 83). Although the objective was
for it to have a horticultural profile, this was only partially achieved, as
floriculture predominated especially at the hands of the Japanese. Both
projects were congruent with the interest of making the peri-urban
rural lands productive, but they were trapped in a process of progressive
disinterest in colonization, which after its initial push, which had a
truncated development.
The activity of the CAN at a national level declined,
affected by the institutional rupture of 1955. In 1958, the CAN was restored to
its functions with BNA assets (Decree No. 2,964), and the following year it was
incorporated by the National Land Directorate, which had previously depended on
the Secretary of State for Agriculture and Livestock of the Nation. In the
1960s the "Second Plan of Agrarian Transformation" was attempted at a
national level, while colonization gained a new legal regime through the
promulgation of Decree Nº 2.964 (1961).
In this context, Oscar Alende
(1958-1962) as governor of Buenos Aires gave a renewed impulse to the formation
of new colonies, even acquiring land through expropriation. From 1961 on, the
Agrarian Institute supplanted the MAA's Colonization Directorate, but it was
dissolved in 1966 (Decree-Law No. 7,250). After a military interruption, the
government of Arturo Illia (1963-1966) dealt with the
maturities on the leases and contracts, for which extensions were issued (Law
No. 16,883) while the CAN assumed the responsibility of providing land to the tenants
affected. At the same time, Buenos Aires, governed by Anselmo
Marini, followed the directives of the moment, although the reformist agrarian
discourse was far from convulsive and modernizing production was prioritized.
Again, institutional instability put a brake on the initiatives and finalized
the extended contracts (Decree-Law No. 17,253, 1967). Although there were no
new acquisitions of land, the CAN generated tenders and adjudications on
properties under its control, the reason why the period 1967-1969 registered an
increase in activity[9].
Finally, the 1970s were the last stage of the incorporation of land for
colonization, including the Agrarian Development Law (No. 20,513) promulgated
during the third Peronist government, which
established access to bank loans for tenants. It is noteworthy that the future
of the colonies was affected by the transformations of the entities responsible
for their creation; however, to understand their development in the early
stages, it is essential to analyze the social
subjects who inhabited those spaces.
3.
Families in the
colonies
Multiethnic origins and varied trajectories:
The selected colonies had as a distinctive feature a
profound ethnic heterogeneity in their social compositions.
In the "Colonia La Capilla"
the Japanese predominated, then the Italians and Argentinians, but there were
also Portuguese, Spanish, Germans, Dutch, Polish, Russians and Ukrainians. The
settled families, mostly emigrants, had experience in agriculture in their
places of origin, where they leased, but others had come with the intention of
trying their luck in the new activity, attracted by the possibility of becoming
owners of a lot. In this way, there were deep differences as to the backgrounds,
experience in rural work and knowledge of the Castilian language. To break down
these issues, we will focus on the two predominant communities and the knowledge
which some settlers had, related to their participation in training programs.
Japanese families, in general, came from the island of
Okinawa. However, they were differentiated into two groups. The first was composed
of those who had been in Argentina since the 1930s and 1940s, and had worked as
tenants and laborers in other territorial divisions of Greater Buenos Aires, the
reason why many families knew each other and in some cases, were related. These
families accessed the lots simultaneously, and had acquired knowledge and
experience in productions similar to those that the colony was to be dedicated
to. Soon after establishing themselves, they created the Japanese Association
of La Capilla
(AJLC, by its acronym in Spanish) that had its own Japanese language school, although
in neighboring zones there existed the Japanese
Association of Florencio Varela (AJFV) that gathered the members of this
collective into the territorial division.
In the interviewees' stories, they refer to the
collaboration between all the families without distinction of nationality,
through the exchange of tools, the loan of animals to be used in the
transportation of products and vehicles, as well as collaboration in the tasks
of neighbors, when they had too much work.
However, in the middle of 1960 Japanese families began
to arrive who had decided to settle in Paraguay and Bolivia as first
destinations. The difference in their itineraries and productive
knowledge-since the newcomers had knowledge of tea and yerba mate productions, impossible
to apply in the new location -accentuated the distance between the two groups.
The second contingent of Japanese worked as tenants or laborers for those
already installed, with the logical aspiration of buying lots. However, in this
period in the colony there was no land, and in a context of drawn out integration
and unfulfilled expectations, in the following years the last ones to arrive
began to emigrate to other rural areas where there were Japanese collectives,
including "Colonia Urquiza".
In this way, the first group of Japanese established
in "Colonia La Capilla" developed links
prioritizing the unity of the community and with neighbors
of other nationalities, while the second group experienced difficulties in
adapting[10].
Nevertheless, passing through this colony meant learning the production methods
to which they would later be dedicated with greater success in other places[11].
Heterogeneity also manifested itself in the training
and knowledge gained. Between 1960 and 1970, some members of the families of
the first group began traveling to Brazil and especially to California in the USA,
for training. This was an important opportunity to learn new techniques,
however, difficulties in applying the acquired knowledge, in a local context
where importing the necessary raw materials was difficult, divided opinions in
the colonies as to the usefulness of the course.
For their part, the Italians of "Colonia La Capilla" were divided into two groups. Some families
had come by their own means, and they only had some knowledge which was not
always useful for their new reality. Simultaneously, another group of families
entered through an agreement between Argentina and Italy in 1953. This
agreement included the provision of tools and the construction of a house by
the agencies involved, but in addition, men over the age of 18 had to train in
the grounds of "Santa Catalina", in Esteban Echeverría,
a territorial division close in the southern area of Greater Buenos Aires. It
was a four-month course that could be extended, where classes were given in
gardening and farming, Argentine geography, the Spanish language and other
content oriented to the adaptation of the immigrants[12].
In this way, the predominant communities in
"Colonia La Capilla" were fragmented by
differences in material resources, experience and knowledge. In fact, the
training that some Japanese and Italians obtained functioned like social
certifications that hierarchized their position.
In short, the multiethnic
character of "La Capilla" did not hinder
the integration of its inhabitants in the beginning; on the contrary, a joint
adaptation took place to the new space linked to the simultaneous entry of all
the colonists, without discrimination of nationality.
The "Colonia Urquiza"
certainly had a varied ethnic and social composition, although it was also more
polarized. Even though there were some Portuguese, Spanish and to a lesser
extent Dutch and German families (Interview with Matsuhara,
Shin'ichi, La Plata, March 14, 2015), the fact is
that the two communities with the greatest presence and participation in the colony
were the Italians, and later the Japanese.
The colonization project began with families of
Italian origin dedicated to the production of vegetables, which were part of
the same program that brought colonists from this origin to "Colonia La Capilla". In this way, during the first decade it was
maintained with a homogeneous population. But the decade of the
1960s brought with it a new cast of families. A second
contingent of Italians, also dedicated to horticulture – an activity that
became characteristic of this collective - arrived, although without the
facilities that their compatriots of the first stage had obtained. Japanese
families also arrived as a result of an intense search of a family referral
project sponsored by Japan[13].
Thus, "Colonia Urquiza" was populated in
two stages that coincided with the arrival of the two most representative
collectives. Although the colony had been created ten years earlier, the
arrival of the Japanese contingent gave it an undeniable impulse and their
outstanding organization brought benefits to the zone.
In the Japanese community, it was possible to perceive
a distinction as regards the area of origin of
the families. The main characteristic was plurality, although mostly they came
from the southern islands (Kyushu, Shikoku and Honshu). They had come via
several routes: some had arrived directly from Japan, but for others the colony
was a second or third point on the route, since they had worked in similar
ventures in the Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil, while others had
been dedicated to rural tasks in the Buenos Aires conurbation.
The profound heterogeneity in the origins and
trajectories of the Japanese did not hinder the unity of the community; in
fact, its capacity to form lasting institutions has been its most singular
feature. This can be explained by the fact that the income of the Japanese
families was simultaneous, levelling them in their adaptation needs, despite
the differences. As they made up the group of entrants, the links and
strategies of sociability crystallized into an institution of their own that
received the support of the Japan
International Cooperation Agency(hereinafter JICA) and the Japanese Embassy
itself, resulting in the relocation of families to a new space, a situation
that allowed them not to have to negotiate with those already established, who,
on the other hand, had not managed to get together so satisfactorily.
However, beyond ethnic diversity and different
backgrounds, knowledge and experiences, the fact is that families in both
colonies shared multiple traits in what they did in everyday life in the new
environment that welcomed them.
3.1.
Supply, Links with the city and social spaces
The colonist families had varied strategies for
consolidating their roots in the new space they had come to inhabit and produce
in. In this sense, two fundamental and intertwined issues were supply and the
link with the city.
As regards the purchase of food, the dynamics were
similar in both cases, since there were warehouses in the area, in some cases prior
to the founding of the colonies. Particularly a general store, "Quintana
& Canabo", was very important in the supply
of basic necessities.
I remember that my mom made a
list, she always bought sugar, yerba, rice, flour in large quantities. Then we
started to buy in the cooperative, and there was also a general store that was
that of Don Andrés, there was a post office, bakery, bar […][14].
But the inhabitants could also order food from
businesses located in the nearest town, since it was common that they took orders
in the lots weekly. In fact, in "Colonia La Capilla"
there were vendors who used to pass by the houses offering varied merchandise,
but also services, such as a hairdresser who cycled through the colony, and who
years later settled in the area setting up a premises of his own.
A Japanese settler reports that in the early years in
"Colonia Urquiza" there were no businesses,
but the fishmonger went every week in a cart[15].
In this vein, a former colonist descended from Japanese people from this same
colony, reports:
There was a lot of street vending at the time, there
was a man selling cloth, needles, in a gray van, he communicated with my mom by signs. Then came the baker,
the back of the truck was full of bread, my mother left the bag at the gate and
the money was rolled up in the handles, so the baker left bread for that amount
of money[16].
In contrast to what might be assumed from the
proximity of the colonies to the cities, in reality, the families rarely went
downtown to supply themselves, although they traveled
monthly to carry out banking procedures or to buy certain articles, such as
school manuals. Also, recreation and entertainment took them to the city, since
they could go to the movies (sometimes the films were projected in Development Societies
or Clubs) and for the younger ones, to attend dances.
Nevertheless, a fundamental aspect for understanding
the life of the families, were the practices of sociability that sometimes varied
according to their origins. In both colonies, the Italians met on weekends to
hold meetings where they frequently ate, played music and danced. These were
family-centered meetings, in which the houses that
functioned as meeting points were alternated, and where the links were
tightened within the community.
The Japanese also held inter-family meetings, but they
were formally organized. The difference is that in "Colonia La Capilla" the families of other nationalities integrated
in the common spaces created, while in "Colonia Urquiza"
the interaction was more limited.
In this way, "Colonia La Capilla"
had three formal organizations where its inhabitants could strengthen ties: the
"Eva Perón / La Capilla"
cooperative, with its store and social club,
the Athenaeum; The Rural Primary School Nº 4 "Florencio Varela" and
the AJLC.
In 1953, the cooperative was organized by the settler’s
own initiative. It was presided over by Ernesto Rivas, and began its activities
with 100 male members. As a source of supply, it gained ground among the
options of the inhabitants, who recognized the effort made and decided to
collaborate with the company. In addition, the idea that they should be "localists" also implied the construction of a common
identification in the settlers. In 1954 it was granted legal status, while the
numerical expansion accompanied these processes[17].
In the following years, the cooperative continued to strengthen.
You
had everything there. The cooperative, apart from groceries, sold fertilizers
and things for the land, but it also had a pump, kerosene, petrol, diesel. Then they got together and made the party hall, the
Athenaeum, which is now a school but at that time they held dances or weddings […][18]
The "Evita / La Capilla" cooperative was, above all, an important area
for socializing, since social and community ties were made
in the various activities that were carried out. One of the main places where this
aspect took shape was the store, which was formed in the first years of the existence
of the colony, and was where they concentrated the administrative procedures
and the provisioning of the settlers. But other cultural projects were
developed. One of them was the formation of an incipient library, for which
some copies of books were bought that were given out on loan, a project that
had some success, mainly, among the women of the colony. However, the Athenaeum
was the most prominent social space. When it was created, the youngest colonists
began to participate actively in the organization of dances, parties and
carnivals, which included the participation of contracted musical orchestras.
The cooperative and its cultural extension, the
Athenaeum, were the heart of "La Capilla".
But although they were presented as spaces where the bonds between the
inhabitants were created, and there were few tensions and confrontations. Thus,
in the late 1970s, as a result of the dubious administration of the proceeds,
the cooperative declared itself bankrupt. The families of the colony only had the
Athenaeum. However, the fate of this space was also marked by loss, as the
Municipality of Florencio Varela designated it for other uses, alien to the
life of the colony. In its replacement, in 1986 the "Society for the
Development of La Capilla" was created, which
integrated those settlers who wanted to join a new entity[19].
The second important social space was the primary
school, which although it was intended for the schooling of the younger
inhabitants, it included by extension the families in their activities. It was reopened,
since the educational unit had operated since 1892 in the area, but had been
closed due to lack of enrollment in the mid-1930s.
Thus, in 1952 a concrete demand was presented that made the reopening of the
school possible[20].
The teacher-director Nélida Baglioni,
a relative of one of the settlers, carried out a survey of the children to give
an account of the possible students. With this information, the community of
"Colonia La Capilla" raised the petition to
the mayor of the territorial division. The intervention of the municipality was
fundamental, since through it, the reopening of the school building was managed
by the corresponding provincial educational authorities[21].
However, this would not have happened without the active participation of a
community of integrated settlers in agreement regarding the same purpose.
The school register was made up of the children of the
recently installed producers, settlers and laborers. School activity was
central to the life of the children of the colony, because it was the center of their activities:
On
Saturdays, we would go to catechism and then we would paint the school, we
would do the garden for Flag Day, May 25, July 9, all of that, we would make
every effort, all the children would fix the school for the national holidays[22].
The school played an important role in bringing people
from different communities into contact with different customs, experiences,
knowledge and languages. But its merit was not only that it facilitated access
to basic education, but rather that its activities ended up involving the
families of the students. It is worth mentioning the link that the school had
with the agrarian cooperative, since they used to perform folkloric acts in
fairs organized by the latter and afterwards by the Development Society.
As for the AJLC, the decision to organize in a closer
sense, bringing together the Japanese families, was not to the detriment of the
high level of integration that the Japanese had with their settler neighbors. They had their own Japanese language school and
a youth department, while the children used to actively participate in sports
tournaments that included other communities and end-of-cycle events from all
Japanese schools in the area, including "Colonia Urquiza” [23].
What is remarkable is that during their time of
greatest activity, they did not maintain close ties with the AJFV, since the
latter was formed by those Japanese (mostly professionals or merchants) who had
previously established themselves in the urban area of the
territorial division, limiting the features in common between both groups. As
we anticipated, one issue that kept the Japanese organization of "La Capilla" in a situation of fragility was that it could
not satisfactorily incorporate the second contingent of Japanese in the 1960s[24].
Thus, its restrictive character within the community
itself created difficulties in producing the necessary generational change that
would mark the continuity of the enterprise. However, during the period when
AJFV activities were suspended due to dissension among members, the AJLC
operated with greater momentum and when the AJLC experienced a steep decline in
enrollment due to Japanese emigration in the 1990s,
it had to join together with the AJFV[25].
Although an association was formed in “La Capilla” that brought together all the settlers, general
integration cannot only be understood in terms of groups and collectives, it is
also necessary to contemplate the role played by certain individuals. In this
sense, the Rivas couple, who presided over the cooperative and managed the store,
also formally adopted two orphaned Japanese children of the colony, and
informally, a dozen more lived with them, while they sponsored a hundred other
young Japanese settlers. Not only did they cover the basic needs of the
children who lived with them, they also baptized them and gave them catechism
at home. Undoubtedly, because of their performance in the cooperative and their
actions in the colony, they fulfilled an important coordinating role[26].
The question of religion, particularly for the
Japanese of Buddhist or Shinto tradition, was not less important integration in
both cases. In this sense, a former colonist of Japanese descent in
"Colonia Urquiza", recalls that a central figure
among the Asians of that colony, Zenta Tanaka,
promoted Catholicism because "he believed that it was the only way they
would not discriminate against us, that we would suffer less” [27].
If up to now we have analyzed
the sociability displayed in the colony of Florencio Varela, also, in the
colony of La Plata specific spaces were formed for this purpose.
In the beginning, the inter-family meetings were
reduced to a fairly homogeneous group, a fact that occluded the need to build a
broader and more inclusive formal organization. However, the internal structure
was shaken ten years later when other Italians and Japanese arrived, initiating
an unexpected and resounding process, it generated profound changes and new
spaces were created, mainly the Japanese Association of La Plata (AJLP, by its
acronym in Spanish), the Telephone and Services Cooperative of Abasto (Cooperativa Telefónica), and the rural primary school No. 57 "Juan
Bautista Ambrosetti”. ".
It is well known that the arrival of the Japanese
community contributed to "Colonia Urquiza"
a particular dynamism. In fact, in 1966 a Coordinating Council was formed,
consisting of various settlers, formally transmitting the claims arising from
the needs of the area, including the request for the creation of a primary
school, for which the Ministry of Education of the province donated two
hectares[28].
Earlier, the original school had functioned on a portion of the land ceded by
the Italian family Di Rocco, until it was formally founded on 1967 on the
donated lands[29].
In general, the parents agreed to have their children
attend and then help in the work of the lots. Although the register was varied,
some children of Japanese families were sent to school No. 39 in Melchor Romero, because it was considered that better
teaching was provided, and for the Asian community, this was a fundamental
issue related to progress.
Undoubtedly, the primary school brought together the
children of the colony and integrated them into the customs of the receiving
country, for example, celebrating the anniversary of the May Revolution of 1810
with hot chocolate, or the making of excursions and school breakfasts, moments
of meeting and camaraderie among the little ones[30].
Although the Japanese joined the call for the opening of
a school in the colony, and some sent their children to that establishment, as
a community they had formed a nursery or kindergarten, which although not formal,
had Argentine teachers who cared for the little ones while their parents worked
in the fields. In this way, the Japanese community was characterized for having
its own proposals to solve common problems through its own resources
exclusively.
In this way, in 1963 came the initiative to form the
"Japanese Club of Colonia Urquiza", chaired
by Eichi Tsuruoka. The
organization began with twenty-five families, whose members participated in one
of the three departments: baseball, ladies and young people. In the words of
one interviewee, "the club was sacred to us, it was the meeting point" [31].
The main activities revolved around communion and recreation, embodied in
sports competitions and artistic events. The year 1977 was decisive, since they
obtained legal status, and with the financial support of JICA, the new branch
of the club was acquired which went on to become the AJLP, denoting its growing
capacity to gather together Japanese families, not only of the colony, but also
from other nearby rural areas[32].
Undoubtedly the association strengthened the Japanese community, which also had
its own school, "Nihongo Gakkó",
dedicated to teaching their language and customs.
We consider that the prevalence of AJLP is linked to the
interest of the community in uniting to socialize with peers in a culturally
different and linguistically alien environment, as well as to supply services
that were deficient in the aspect of housing, since the association participated
in the paving (1974), the installation of electrical services (1977),
telephones (1989) and natural gas[33].
The Japanese community also participated in other ventures, such as the Telephone
and Services Cooperative, which was founded in 1967 in the town of Abasto, La Plata. Although to a lesser extent, its
commission was also integrated by Japanese, and although they maintained good
ties with this organization, the AJLP transmitted calls for improvements for
the colony, the reason why the cooperative was not the exclusive means of
provision.
Undoubtedly, in "Colonia La Capilla"
and "Colonia Urquiza" families divided
their time between the activities of the created organizations and the intense
work in the lots, which included all its members. For this reason, the rural
work in the colonies counted on the participation of the children, who
replicated the ethnic and cultural characteristics of their family environments
in their activities.
4. Family work and the role of children
Work in the colonies was organized around family labor. The interviewees emphasize the communal work, the
organization of tasks by the parents, the distribution of tasks between the genders,
while recognizing the enormous effort involved in their participation in the
farm: "[...] the children, the old people, the parents, they all worked together
[…]”[34].
[…] We
all worked, all the children worked in the field, lighter jobs but it is still work.
And the kids helped to plant, gather the vegetables, give
the animals water. More helped in the spring season, because there was more
work and more hours of light […][35].
The children of the colonies were not occasional help,
rather they were a necessary part of the labor force[36].
However, there were differences in the quality of the work performed and the
amount of time devoted to the tasks, which depended on age. Thus, until the age
of 10 tasks were generally adapted to the physical capacities of the children.
Then the responsibilities of the older children were to plow
the land with horses, to handle the transport vehicles and the tractors[37].
In addition, in order to distribute the products, children usually packed or
wrapped vegetables, loading and transporting them to points of sale. At their
young age, they were the ones in charge of driving for the rural part of the
route. However, although it was a task rather reserved for men, women not only
knew how to do it, they did it regularly.
Certainly, the girls were involved in the labor in the lots and the tasks were not less intense, as
they loaded crates of vegetables and they handled the tractors: "the work
was very tough, for men, it was not for women ... but we did it all the same"[38].
Nonetheless, the participation of young girls was not the same in all cases,
since extended families with a tradition of rural tasks gave them a greater
share, while those with fewer children who had gone there to try their luck on
the colony prioritized education over work.
Working in the countryside did not disconnect the
little ones from domestic tasks, where they had to help their mothers, who,
working side by side with the men, bequeathed their daughters with the main
occupations, such as food preparation, fixing, washing and ironing clothes,
caring for the younger siblings and fetching water for the consumption of the
household and the animals, at the same time that they were in charge of the
cleaning and feeding of the chickens and pigs. If the family had a milking
stall, they were also dedicated to the milking of the cows to obtain milk and
the elaboration of cheese, butter, curd, among other products, tasks that were
considered more "simple". The work of boys and girls was a reality in
the landscape of the colonies, as in that of other similar undertakings.
Therefore, it is possible to affirm that work was
present in the life of the boys and girls because it occupied their time, but
also the majority of them went to the school and both activities had to be balanced.
The presence of children in the colonies was fundamental, not only in the
productive aspect, in which they collaborated constantly, but also because they
encouraged the creation of day care centers, schools
and specific spaces for them in the associations, which included by extension
their parents, uncles, aunts and older siblings. In this way, adults were
compelled to come into contact with other members of the colonies, their own
communities and also others, thus generating new links.
Conclusions
The selected cases were fit into the projects and
rationales of Peronism in its first and second stages. This fact is evidenced
in that the projects and the acquisition of lands that were developed when colonization
as a state policy was recovered discursively and in the actions of Domingo A. Mercante, governor of the province of Buenos Aires, even
when the preponderant interests on a national level were changing. On the other
hand, the foundation of the colonies, invitations to bid and the arrival of the
first groups of settlers took place when, in a second stage of Peronism, a
greater impulse was given to the increase of production over the initiatives of
" agrarian reform ", a concept that was used to proclaim the
foundations of Peronist and mercantile colonizing projects.
In this way, the "Colonia La Capilla"
and "Colonia Urquiza" constituted cases of
late colonization that developed with their chiaroscuros and ups and downs, marked
by the concern that constituted the excessive demographic growth of the
metropolitan area - which was not something new, but rather a problem stemming
from previous years - and the feeding of these new groups, an issue highlighted
in the Second Five-Year Plan.
In addition, the development and consolidation of both
colonizing projects were marked and guided by the national and provincial
context. However, it is also true that they acquired particular characteristics
determined by their location in a connecting zone between the countryside and
the city, and the latter, in a phase of full growth and expansion, not only demographically
but also economically and productively. The characteristics of a location such
as this are found in the habits of the settlers: the organization of time in
daily activities, food consumption, products, frequent contact with the
populated center, points retrieved in interviews carried
out and that have led us to think about the daily life of the family nuclei in
these spaces.
In this sense, the world of the families that settled
in late agricultural colonies was located in spaces where the exchange between the
rural and urban (material and symbolic) permeated daily practices, and which presented
particularities of their own. The peri-urban character, however, did not
necessarily mean greater contact with the city, its goods and services. The
colonies offered spaces in which to carry out paperwork, or attend social and
recreational events that attenuated the need to move to the city when it was
unavoidable. The proviso was presented when marketing the products, as although
many families had intermediaries, in other cases, the same members of the
families went to the markets. However, mostly the men were the ones who took
care of the sales, while the rest of the family lived in the rural landscape.
In this way, even to obtain supplies, it was usual to receive periodic visits
from urban suppliers to those who made orders in quantity.
Sociability took on fundamental importance in these type
of projects, impregnated by ethnic diversity. The cultural and linguistic
differences were not an impediment to the integration of families; on the
contrary, compelled by the circumstances, they created spaces that facilitated
their rooting in the new soil. However, among the cases we found differences.
It is clear that in "La Capilla", where
there was greater integration between collectives, a cooperative entity was
crystallized that brought together all the settlers, with a dynamic space
dedicated to meetings, which played an connecting
role. Although it could not support itself over time, at the beginning it was
fundamental for the integration of the families, especially for those of
immigrant origin. The interethnic unity of the settlers, in this case, was to
the detriment of "intra-ethnic" integration, a situation opposed to
that of "Colonia Urquiza", where, beyond
some joint initiatives, the Japanese organization stood out.
In this sense, to understand the integration patterns
of the various groups, the origin, trajectories and knowledge have been
revealed to be central features. But, fundamentally, temporality allows us to
understand the impact of the arrival of families, because where they were asynchronous,
fragmentation (between collectives, but also within the communities) became
more evident. In this way, differences were generated between the established
families, who had elements that reaffirmed their position, against the newcomers,
who suffered from marginalization. In some cases, over time they were able to
integrate, and in others, they could not adapt and moved to other spaces where
they found the material and social conditions for their final installation.
The productive work was essentially familiar. In this
framework, children were integrated as a necessary workforce, while the smaller
ones were assigned tasks appropriate to their physical abilities, although this
did not necessarily mean that they worked for less time. However, the schooling
of children was generally accepted and respected, and in this sense, primary
schools in the colonies were spaces in which the complex social and migratory
characteristics were replicated. Their function was oriented to the integration
of the students, an objective that was achieved through diverse formal and
informal practices, both in the classroom and outside of it. The normalizing
action of the school was extended, as expected, to the families of the
children, which were included in the various activities proposed.
In this way, the colonies were propped up through communal
family work, settled in the construction of institutions and associations,
effective spaces for sociability in which the subjects made substantial
contributions based on their various roles, trajectories and knowledge.
Documentary sources
Asociación Japonesa de La Plata AJLP. Libros de Aniversarios.
Banco de la Nación Argentina BNA. Ministerio de Finanzas de la Nación.
Memorias y Balances generales
Dirección de Inteligencia de la Policía de la Provincia de Buenos Aires
DIPBA, La Plata-Argentina. Mesa B, Por Jurisdicción, Florencio Varela.
Sociedad de Fomento “La Capilla”, Florencio Varela-Argentina, Libro de
Actas.
Ministerio de Asuntos Agrarios MAA. La Plata-Argentina. Dirección de
Colonización. Carpetas de Colonias.
Archivo Histórico de la Provincia de Buenos Aires AHPB, Discursos de
inicios de sesiones parlamentarias del gobernador Domingo A. Mercante. Senado
de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Diario de Sesiones (1946-1952).
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