Argentinean identity: A matter of translation?

Abstract

Abstract To define our culture as ‘derivative’ from certain European models has become almost canonical in Argentina. On the one hand national identity appears as a ‘cracked’, ‘inverted’, or ‘buried’ mirror of European models, while on the other, the derivative explanation poses the following differing topic: (i) What kind of model, and what kinds of correspondences should be proposed between these models? (ii) Is the ‘creationist’ position that excludes the ‘old world’ from the new, viewing the ‘new world’ as an original culture1 the correct view? (iii)Should one accept the negative criticism that rejects the concept of correspondence— by those intellectuals who discussed the ideas of translation and derivation and in doing so resorted to hermeneutic motives such as exile, tragedy, banishment, genealogy and so forth?2