Albanians in Argentina

[Tannhauser]

Shqiptarët në Argjentinë
Albanians in Argentina

During the great immigration from South Italians towards Argentina, there were also a lot of Arbershe people. They became part of the great European immigration towards South America in the 19th Century. Most Albanians who migrated to Argentina were Arbëresh from southern Italy, while the rise of Albanian exiles in Argentina occurred in the early 20th century, with the arrival of about 20,000-30,000 Albanians, many went on to be mixed with Italians and locals and thus, were no longer able to speak Albanian language. Its official presence in Argentina is documented in Berisso since 1907, when the Albanian Society was founded.

Today, apart from some families in Rosario and Córdoba, almost all Albanians of Argentina live in Buenos Aires. Every year, on 28 November, the Albanian Patriotic Society of Skanderbeg (Asociación Patriotica Albanesa Skenderbeu) celebrates the Flag Day with traditional Albanian songs and foods.

According to religion, most Albanians in Argentina are Christians, while a minority are Muslims.

[KrashNick]

[Tannhauser]

Ernesto Sabato

Ernesto Sabato (June 24, 1911 – April 30, 2011) was an Argentine novelist, essayist, painter and physicist. Won some of the most prestigious prizes in Hispanic literature and "became very influential in the literary world throughout Latin America". Upon his death El País dubbed him the "last classic writer in Argentine literature".

Ernesto Sabato was born on June 24, 1911, in Rojas, Buenos Aires Province, son of Francesco Sabato and Giovanna Maria Ferrari, Italian immigrants from Calabria. His father was from Fuscaldo, and his mother was an Arbëreshë (Albanian minority in Italy) from San Martino di Finita. He was the tenth of a total of eleven children. Being born after his ninth brother's death, he carried on his name "Ernesto".

Sabato's oeuvre includes three novels: El Túnel (1948), Sobre héroes y tumbas (1961) and Abaddón el exterminador (1974). The first of these received critical acclaim upon its publication from, among others, fellow writers Albert Camus and Thomas Mann. The second is regarded as his masterpiece, though he nearly burnt it like many of his other works. Sabato's essays cover topics as diverse as metaphysics, politics and tango. His writings led him to receive many international prizes, includingthe Miguel de Cervantes Prize (Spain), the Legion of Honour (France), and the Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger (France).

At the request of President Raúl Alfonsín, he presided over the CONADEP commission that investigated the fate of those who suffered forced disappearance during the Dirty War of the 1970s. The result of these findings was published in 1984 bearing the title Nunca Más (Never Again).

Spoiler!

Novels

1948: El túnel (The Tunnel)

Spoiler!

Film adaptations

El túnel (1952), directed by León Klimovsky, with Laura Hildago and Carlos Thompson.
El túnel (1977, TV movie), directed by José Luis Cuerda
El túnel, also known as The Tunnel (1988), directed by Antonio Drove, with Jane Seymour and Peter Weller.
The Passion of Martin (1990), directed by Alexander Payne. A comic adaptation of El túnel for his film school thesis project about a photographer who becomes obsessed with a girl he notices studying his work in a gallery.

1961: Sobre héroes y tumbas (Translated by Helen R. Lane in 1981 as On Heroes and Tombs)
1974: Abaddón el exterminador (Translated by Andrew Hurley in 1991 as The Angel of Darkness)

Essays

1945: Uno y el Universo (One and the Universe)
1951: Hombres y engranajes (Man and Mechanism)
1953: Heterodoxia (Heterodoxy)
1956: El caso Sabato. Torturas y libertad de prensa. Carta abierta al General Aramburu (The Sabato Case. Tortures and Liberty of Press. Open Letter to General Aramburu)
1956: El otro rostro del peronismo (The Other Face of Peronism)
1963: El escritor y sus fantasmas (Translated by Asa Zatz in 1990 as The Writer in the Catastrophe of our Time.)
1963: Tango, discusión y clave (Tango: Discussion and Key)
1967: Significado de Pedro Henríquez Ureña (Significance of Pedro Henríquez Ureña)
1968: Tres aproximaciones a la literatura de nuestro tiempo: Robbe-Grillet, Borges, Sartre (Three Approximations to the Literature of our Time: Robbe-Grillet, Borges, Sartre)
1973: La cultura en la encrucijada nacional (Culture in the National Crossroads)
1976: Diálogos con Jorge Luis Borges (Dialogues with Jorge Luis Borges) (Edited by Orlando Barone)
1979: Apologías y rechazos (Apologies and Rebuttals)
1979: Los libros y su misión en la liberación e integración de la América Latina (Books and their Mission in the Liberation and Integration of Latin America)
1988: Entre la letra y la sangre. Conversaciones con Carlos Catania (Between Letter and Blood. Conversations with Carlos Catania)
1998: Antes del fin (Before the End)
Antes del fin is an autobiography in which he recounts his life and the influences on his political and ethical opinions. Sabato discusses the ill effects of globalization and the exalting of rationalism and materialism. There are also several tender passages about his school experiences in the 1920s (when there was more idealism, Sabato says), about his deceased wife and son, Matilde and Jorge, and about the struggling workers he meets on the streets of Buenos Aires.
2000: La resistencia (The Resistance)
2004: España en los diarios de mi vejez (Spain in the Diaries of my Old Age)

Others

1964: Itinerario (Itinerary)
1966: Romance de la muerte de Juan Lavalle. Cantar de Gesta (Romance of Juan Lavalle's Death. Cantar de gesta)
1984: Nunca más. Informe de la Comisión Nacional sobre la desaparición de personas (Never Again. Report from the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons)

[Fedora]

I've seen one Arbreshe result and it plotted among south italians

[Kriptc06]

that's pretty interesting and unexpected, how many of them are orthodox? or have them converted to catholicism?

[Jehan]

I'am curious about genetic study among this community.
As they are mainly from another community in Sicilia, I wonder if they are really still mainly descendant of albanians or the link is only "mythical" or "cultural"

[Tannhauser]

that's pretty interesting and unexpected, how many of them are orthodox? or have them converted to catholicism?

I guess 3rd and 4rd generations are assimilated and blend in our Christian Secular or Secular Christian Society. I found disparate information about their Christian denomination but you can find orthodox priests from the community.

I'am curious about genetic study among this community.
As they are mainly from another community in Sicilia, I wonder if they are really still mainly descendant of albanians or the link is only "mythical" or "cultural"

and in Calabria.

I am not an expert in Arbëresh ppl.

I urge the albos of TA to do a research and enlighten us.

[safinator]

I met an Argentine girl years back in a hostel which upon finding out I was Albanian seemed very enthusiastic. Later I found out that she's Arbereshe and actually visited her ancestors' village in Calabria.

[Incal]

I'll contribute with a pic:

[Tannhauser]

I met an Argentine girl years back in a hostel which upon finding out I was Albanian seemed very enthusiastic. Later I found out that she's Arbereshe and actually visited her ancestors' village in Calabria.

Yes, many argentines who have the possibility to travel to know the place of origin of their ancestors, especially Italians or, in this case, italo-albanians.