Youths, sociability and immigration. An approach to the Israelite youths in the first decades of the 20th century (1910-1920)

Abstract

This article offers new insights about youth´s representations and their cultural, political and intellectual role in the first decades of the 20th century in Buenos Aires. It analyzes a group of Israeli youth associations that emerged in the city of Buenos Aires, and their link with a broader youth associative network that is reconstructed inside and outside that sphere. The conclusions highlight the relevance of Israeli youths in the debates and problems that were developed within the heterogeneous “Israeli community”. Likewise, they emphasize their political and intellectual role, through initiatives in which they legitimized their intervention and leadership within that space or outside it, in the simultaneous militancy that opened up at the university or in the different political options of the period. Finally, based on a comparative approach with different countries, the conclusions raise questions that help to reflect on the historical configuration of youths in the first decades of the 20th century, considering the social and cultural implications of the immigration process in Argentina.