“El Sur (Armenio) También Existe”: Being an (Argentine) Armenian in the (Southern) Periphery of the Diaspora

The Argentine-Armenian community is part of the post-Genocide Armenian diaspora, which evolved through a dense associative network of religious, political, and cultural institutions that structured diasporic life across generations. Within the “virtual space” of the Armenian diaspora—understood as a transnational field of cultural, political, and institutional connections—the Argentine-Armenian community was situated at its southern periphery, both geographically distant from other diasporic centers and relatively detached from their main institutional dynamics. This article highlights continuities and connections between the Argentine-Armenian community and the real or imagined Armenian homeland, as mediated by Argentine-Armenian associative networks, as well as differences that have evolved through interactions with Argentine society across generations. Together, these dynamics constitute the Argentine-Armenian singularity. The article explores this singularity by analyzing the emergence, evolution, and consolidation of the Armenian community in Argentina; the particularities of the Argentine-Armenian community using data from the 2019 Armenian Diaspora Survey (ADS); and the inclusion of the recognition of the Armenian Genocide on the Argentine public agenda, demonstrating its significance for Argentine-Armenian political integration.