A migratory crossroads in the heart of South America : Paraguay in the 19th and 20th centuries ; Un carrefour migratoire au cœur de l'Amérique du Sud : le Paraguay du XIXe et du XXe siècles

Abstract

During the second half of the 19th and 20th centuries, Paraguay will experience a dynamic process of foreign immigration. In this perspective, special attention is paid to the relations that immigrants had with the State, mainly settlers working on the land, focusing mainly on certain categories of immigrants, in particular, French, Italian, German, Syro-Lebanese, Japanese and Mennonite, as well as other minorities of immigrants from Eastern Europe (Russians, Poles, Ukrainians and Czechoslovakians). Through a heuristic understanding of the migratory process in Paraguay, we explore this field through a Paraguayan historical investigation. In this context, we rely particularly on the specificities of the immigrant population. Using a method that combines historical, sociological and demographic approaches, we analyze the migration policy of the (Paraguayan) government and the strategies of the different actors involved in the migration movement in Paraguay, including the intervention of diplomats, immigration agents, family, friendship and ethno-religious networks.After a presentation of the well-known population statistics of the post-war demographic crisis (1865-1870), the different types of immigration movements are examined from a socio-demographic perspective, as well as in terms of political and economic transformations. Using case studies as a starting point, it is possible to question how the various flows crystallized over time and the socio-historical horizon in which immigration takes shape. The survey thus focuses, from both a global and micro-analytical perspective, on the organization of immigration in contemporary Paraguay ; Au cours de la seconde moitié des XIXe et XXe siècles, le Paraguay va vivre une dynamique du processus d'immigration étrangère. Dans cette perspective, on accorde une attention particulière aux relations que les immigrants entretiennent auprès de l'État, essentiellement des colons travailleurs de la terre, en nous focalisant principalement sur certaines catégories d'immigrants, ...