Migration politics and urban cultural diversity: The presence of Spanish communities in “Buenos Aires Celebra”

Abstract

Since 2009, the Buenos Aires city government, through the Department of Citizens’ Rights and the General Directorate of Local Communities, has been implementing the “Buenos Aires Celebra” (Buenos Aires Celebrates) program. It organizes a number of recreational outdoor activities in which immigrant communities play a part. This program aims to establish links between immigrants and the welcoming society as well as to celebrate cultural diversity. Throughout the year, the Spanish immigrant institutions collaborate in different festivities. The implementation of these festivities, researched through the news in the Spanish emigration media in Argentine, as well as the interviews with emigrant leaders and observation in their places, constitutes an interesting study case to analyze the interaction between migration policies and migrants in the local urban context. The migration policy of Buenos Aires government, which favors cultural pluralism and promotes the expression of the emigrants’ history and identity, facilitates the work done by the migrants’ institutions to preserve their cultural legacy and the Spanish government’s interest in recreating the link with “Spanish citizens” on abroad.

Keywords: migration policies, local context, migrants, cultural diversity.