ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the representation of Argentina by two Italian scientists, Paolo Mantegazza and Pellegrino Strobel, in the second half of the nineteenth century. The investigation focuses on the interaction between readers’ expectations, authors’ personal interests and different images of Argentina. The intended readership of Mantegazza’s The River Plate and Tenerife (1867) included other Italian (and European) scientists, Italian entrepreneurs and potential emigrants from the middle- and lower classes. The image of Argentina he constructed was consequently varied and quite eclectic: exotic figures such as the porteña and the gaucho co-exist not only with an urban and more familiar Argentina, but also with a savage nature, whose main attraction lies in its scope for capitalistic exploitation. Mantegazza’s description of Argentinian indios reflects his personal ties with the local creole elite, cemented by his marriage to the daughter of a rich senator of Salta. Strobel’s Travels from Southern Argentina (1867–1869) expresses a more genuinely scientific account of Argentina, mainly focussed on naturalistic observations but with some surprising criticism of the modern Argentinian State and the indios’ conditions. Together, the two books illustrate the multifaceted cultural relations between Italy and Argentina in the second half of the nineteenth century.
