Caught between two homelands: The dilemmas of the second generation of Europeans in Argentina during the Great War

Abstract

On the eve of the Great War, European immigrants made up 27% of Argentina’s total population. This article examines the tensions surrounding the definitions of citizenship and its concomitant duties as this impacted on the mobilisation of the second generation of three immigrant communities in Argentina: the British, the French and the Italian. In particular it will analyse wartime debates around the controversial issue of dual nationality and national belonging, and the measures adopted in the post-war era to remedy ambiguities in the socio-legal reproduction of citizens.