1. Las Malvinas Argentinas:
A critical study of the
importance of the Falkland
Islands in Argentine national
discourse
Andy Martin
This dissertation is submitted in partial fulfilment of the
requirements of the BA (hons) in Spanish and Politics,
11th April 2014.

2. 2
In memory of the fallen soldiers of the 1982
Falklands/Malvinas conflict.
Dedicated to my beloved grandparents.

3. Contents
Acknowledgements ii
1. Introduction 1
1.1 Historical and political background 6
2. The everyday representation of the
‘Malvinas Argentinas’ in the Argentine
Republic 10
3. Playing the ‘Malvinas’ card: dictatorship,
conflict and the return to democracy 16
4. A case of territorial nationalism? 23
5. Argentine irredentism and the perception
of territorial losses and gains 29
6. The Falklands in Argentine education
practices: a case of patriotic indoctrination? 35
7. A Post-Malvinas discourse? 43
8. Conclusion 47
Glossary of Terms 50
Appendices 51
Bibliography 63

4. 1
1. Introduction
This study will look to analyse how the continued dispute over the
sovereignty of the Falkland Islands (Las Malvinas) plays a key role in
the formation and maintenance of historic and contemporary
Argentine national identity and political discourse, through the
exploration and deconstruction of the different strands of
nationalism, and the incorporation of the key constructs of national
identity in the Argentine Republic. This paper does not aim to
perpetuate the debate over the sovereignty of the islands; instead it
is intended to provide greater comprehension of their importance to
the Argentine people, to identify why the Malvinas Argentinas play a
pivotal role in the collective identity of the Argentine nation. It will
analyse the complexity of the issue and attempt to explain how, and
why, successive Argentine governments have continually placed the
recovery of the islands as a high priority on the national agenda, a
primary objective of the Argentine nation as outlined in the
constitution:
“The Argentine Nation ratifies its legitimate and non-prescribing
sovereignty over the Malvinas, Georgias del Sur and Sandwich del Sur

5. 2
Islands and over the corresponding maritime and insular zones, as they
are an integral part of the National territory.
The recovery of these territories and the full exercise of sovereignty,
respecting the way of life for its inhabitants and according to the
principles of international law, constitute a permanent and
unwavering goal of the Argentine people.”
(CONSTITUTION OF THE ARGENTINE NATION, FIRST TEMPORARY PROVISION,
1994, P.27) 1
Whilst this constitutional amendment is only twenty years old, the
important role that the islands have played in the development of
Argentine nationalism and national identity as a whole is not. The
re-conquest of the islands, ‘occupied by the British in 1833 and
claimed back ever since by Argentina’ has consistently been used as a
corner-stone of Argentine identity, and subsequently as a
multifunctional tool within the domestics politics of the nation
(Crawley, 1984, p.xv). Indeed, the significance of the islands is most
evident in their role as a key element in the production, maintenance
and integrity of argentinidad and the Argentine nation. For well over
a century, Argentina’s claim to the islands has provided a ready-
made, easily identifiable ‘cause’ around which a vast array of
Argentines from all socio-economic strata can unite and combine
1 “La Nación Argentina ratifica su legítima e imprescriptible soberanía sobre las islas
Malvinas, Georgias del Sur y Sandwich del Sur y los espacios marítimos e insulares
correspondientes, por ser parte integrante del territorio nacional. La recuperación
de dichos territorios y el ejercicio pleno de la soberanía, respetando el modo de vida
de sus habitantes, y conforme a los principios del Derecho Internacional, constituyen
un objetivo permanente e irrenunciable del pueblo argentino.” (CONSTITUCIÓNDE LA
NACIÓNARGENTINA, PRIMERA DISPOSICIÓN TRANSITORIA, 1994, P.27)

6. 3
(Phipps, 1977, p.5). The long term goal of the ‘recuperation of the
national rock’2 has become deeply intertwined with the Argentine
nation and her people, to the extent that they themselves have
become implicated in the search and desire for society in face of
extreme political, economic and social challenges. The Falklands,
according to Argentine born sociologist Ronaldo Munck; ‘matter to
everyone regardless of political leaning or socio-economic status …
their loss symbolised the loss of Argentina itself, and their recovery
symbolised Argentina’s rediscovery itself (2013, p.152).
Therefore, the key questions in explaining and delayering the
complex role that the Fakland Islands play in Argentine national
identity and discourse are the following:
- What is the role of nationalism in Argentine political
ideology?
- How does the Argentine dogma of the Malvinas Argentinas
interact with this, and vice versa?
- What effect does this have on the Argentine social and
political environment?
To decipher the question of nationalism, one first has to define the
nation. In its simplest form, the nation is ‘a large aggregate of people
united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a
particular state or territory’ (Oxford English Dictionary, 2002, p.949).
Nevertheless, there exist several lines of debate as to which of these
2 ‘recuperación del rock nacional’

7. 4
components is the most important for the creation and subsequent
existence of a nation. Benedict Anderson (1991) explains how the
concept of the nation is that of an ‘imagined political community
[which is] inherently limited and sovereign’ (p.5), a ‘deep horizontal
comradeship’, a ‘fraternity’ which, over the past two centuries has
been the cause ‘for so many millions of people, not so much to kill, as
willingly to die for such limited imaginings’ (p.224).
Czech historian and political theorist, Miroslav Hroach, builds upon
Anderson’s suggestion of fraternity, describing the nation as a
‘collective consciousness’ with three core characteristics;
‘1) a 'memory' of some common past, treated as a 'destiny' of the
group - or at least of its core constituents;
2) a density of linguistic or cultural ties enabling a higher degree
of social communication within the group than beyond it;
3) a conception of the equality of all members of the group
organized as a civil society’ (1996, p.79)
Hroach also notes that the formation and later evolution of national
movements are based around the core phases of creating, projecting
and, subsequently, maintaining a feeling of collectiveness, playing a
critical role in Argentine actions and reactions surrounding the
islands.
In more quotidian terms, and in line with the contemporary works of
Anderson, it is understood that nationalism assumes that humankind
is ‘naturally divided into distinct nations’, and that, encompassing

8. 5
ideology which can be traced back to historic uprisings such as the
French Revolution and Bolivar-led revolutions in Latin America, said
nations should be their own masters (Heywood, 2007, p.143-145).
The first half of this paper will examine how the Malvinas Argentinas
dogma has become a central and readily identifiable component of
the popular national movement in Argentina. It will analyse the
1982 Falklands/Malvinas conflict and the return to democracy in
relation to national memory, media and symbols of identity in
tandem with the three core characteristics outlined by Hroach.
Additionally, it will look at how the above is affected and influenced
patriotic, populist and post-colonial ideology in Argentina (Dune &
Schmidt, 2011, pp.87-88; Phipps, p.7). Latterly, the concept of
Argentine irredentism and territorial nationalism will be explored.
The perception of territorial losses and gains will be examined to
analyse how the various components of nationalism and national
identity shape national policy and opinion towards the Islands, and
indeed, how the latter is affected by the former.
The second half of this report will contextualise how the nation,
nationalism and the Malvinas Argentinas, are deliberate constructs of
the Argentine state, exploring educational practices in Argentina
using the thesis of Hobsbawn, who argues that, whilst it is of certain
significance, the expression of a ‘national ideal’ is all of a construct
used to rationalise the irrational (1990, pp.8-9). Finally, it will also
examine how the above has sprouted a ‘post-Malvinas’ mood

9. 6
amongst certain intellectuals in Argentine society (Munck, p.156)
looking at what effect this had on the contemporary Malvinas cause.
It will explore how the potential access to the natural wealth of the
seas and seabed that surround the archipelago plays a contemporary
role in keeping Argentine interests in the islands high upon the
national agenda, and also to what extent this interacts with the
nationalistic ideology and sentiment over the islands (Debat &
Lorenzano, 1984, pp.45-50; Halliday, 2004).
1.1 Historical and political background
Situated in the Southern Atlantic Ocean around 500km from the
coast of Patagonia, the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) first
appeared on Portuguese maps as early as the 16th century, and over
the following two centuries various European landings were
recorded (Central Intelligence Agency, 2014; Cawkell, 2001, p.15).
Between 1764 and 1811 they were occupied by French, British and
Spanish forces before being abandoned for almost two decades. In
1828, Franco-Argentine, Louis Vernet, established a settlement on
the islands, and, following a visit from US vessels in 1832, the British
re-established control of the islands in 1833 (pp.17-18). When
Britain re-established her colony on the Islands, the men of Vernet’s
mission were given the option of returning to Buenos Aires or
staying on the islands. It is believed that 12 of the Argentines –

10. 7
around half of Vernet’s expedition – elected to stay. Those who
stayed were integrated into the community of British settlers that
arrived over the following years (p.19).
Since 1833, except during the Argentine military occupation of 1982,
the islands have continued under British dominion and are currently
administered as a British Overseas Territory. Islanders are
considered legal subjects of both the British crown, under the British
Nationality Act of 1983, and of the Argentine Republic under
Argentine law 26,552, which also lays out the country’s territorial
claims and political commitment to the islands as part of the
Province of the Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and the South Atlantic
Islands3 (Casa Rosada, 2011).
Whilst the above is a basic version of the history of the Islands, it is
intended to be balanced and accurate, and to demonstrate how
Argentina (as the successor of the Spanish Viceroyalty of the Río de
la Plata), as well as the United Kingdom, both have arguable cause for
legitimate claims to the islands. When Britain withdrew her
settlement from the islands in 1774, a plaque was left asserting her
sovereignty and claiming the Falklands on behalf of the British
crown. A similar plaque was left by Spain after her withdrawal in
1806 (Pascoe & Pepper, 2008, pp.6-8). Accounts of the history of the
Islands before 1833 are often contradictory and remain somewhat
ambiguous due to a lack of concrete records. Unsurprisingly, the
3 ‘Provincia de Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur’

11. 8
Argentine connection is relatively underplayed in British literature
and the same is to be said for the British connection in Argentine
publications.
Since 1833, the Argentine Republic has continually claimed the
islands, with successive governments pressing such claims in
international dialogue, namely within the United Nations. The
Argentine claim was formally reasserted before the United Nations
Committee on Decolonisation in September 1964 (Honeywell, 1982,
pp.37-38). During the subsequent two decades, Argentina became
increasingly impatient over the slow progress in talks over the
islands whilst British politicians continually dragged their heels on
the subject, to the extent that it was noted in 1977 that the
‘significance of the [Falklands] issue in Argentinian politics is not
widely appreciated in Britain’ (Phipps, p.5).
In 1982, the depth of the ‘nationalistic feeling over the Malvinas …
held almost universally in Argentina’, along with declining popularity
of the military dictatorship, created an environment that was strong
enough to support Argentine military intervention in the islands
(Honeywell, p.51). In the succeeding months, the United Kingdom
and Argentina entered into armed conflict which resulted in the
surrender of the Argentines in June of the same year. Nevertheless,
since 1982, the Islands have continued to be a huge symbol of
Argentine national identity and an integral part of being Argentine:
argentinidad. Indeed, there is little doubt that the Argentine claim to

12. 9
the Islands, the Malvinas Argentinas, continues to be an emotive and
poignant national question (Mercopress, 2014).

13. 10
2. The everyday representation of the ‘Malvinas
Argentinas’ in the Argentine Republic
The Argentine people have spoken of how the Falkland Islands were
stolen from the Argentine patria and colonised by the English 1833 for
generations (Honeywell, p.37). Indeed, in response to whether current
president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, is right about her stance that
the Falkland Islands have been, are, and will continue to be Argentina’s,
the general consensus – regardless of what course of action should be
taken – is that yes, ‘she is right, the Malvinas are Argentina’ (Lloyd-
Roberts, 2013). Dr Jorge Castro from the country’s Institute of Strategic
Studies adds that the islands form and integral part of Argentina’s
national identity; they are ‘the only thing that unites this divided
country’ (in Lloyd-Roberts, 2013).
It is no accident that many Argentines hold a profound conviction that
the Falklands are Argentine. To understand the primary causes of this
conviction it is necessary to understand the important role of banal
nationalism in the Argentine Republic. According to John Agnew
(1989), ‘nationalism is never beyond geography’ (p.167), it is to say that
all nations – and indeed all nationalist movements – are rooted to some
form of territory or physical place. Nevertheless, Michael Billing, in a
similar manner to Anderson in Imagined Communities, notes that said

14. 11
geography is not restrained to physical geography nor physical setting;
‘the national place has to be imagined, just as much as the national
community does’, stressing that such a sense of territory and belonging
is by no means reliant on physical links (1995, p.74-75).
Certainly, nationalism is a political ideology that consistently shapes the
individual’s consciousness and the way they constitute their place
within the world (Özkirimi, 2000, p.4), and it can be said that
nationalism is a result of the everyday reproduction of the nation and
national identity: banal nationalism. So how does this relate to the case
of the Malvinas Argentinas? In its simplest form, Argentines are subject
to, and moved by, multiple banal ‘reminders’ (some obvious such as the
example in Appendix A and some more subtle such as Appendix B) on a
daily basis, to the extent that the assertion that ‘Las Malvinas son
Argentinas’ (‘The Falklands are Argentina’s/are Argentine’) becomes so
regularised that all citizens are ‘drilled to act’, to respond, in a
homogenous manner (Edensor in Benwell & Dodds, 2011, p.442). This
is further supported by Billig who argues that said forms of banal
nationalism are a ‘form of life which is daily lived in a world of nation
states’ (1995, p.68).
Furthermore, taking into account the official reproduction of the
Malvinas Argentinas as an integral part of the Argentine state, the
potency of their official state representation becomes apparent, for
example in the anthem: ‘March of the Falklands’4 . According to
4 ‘Marcha de las Malvinas’

15. 12
sociologist Karen Cerulo, patriotic symbols, and anthems in particular,
provide one the clearest and strongest statements of national identity,
reaffirming so called ‘identity boundaries’ (1993). Since its composition
in 1948, the March of the Falklands has been used as a demonstration,
arguably an assertion, of the Malvinas Argentinas as a historic part of
the national homeland, the patria. The first verse set to an upbeat score
gleefully claims the islands as Argentine, and defies that they be
forgotten:
“Behind their misty quilt
we will not forget them!
"Argentine Malvinas!"
the wind cries out and the sea roars.”
MARCH OF THE FALKLANDS (ARGENTINE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, 2014C)5
Thus, as such patriotic anthems are employed by governments and
organisations across the world to create bonds and to reinforce national
goals amongst each individual citizen a certain circular logic is created:
a nation or territory is legitimate because it has an anthem, and because
it has an anthem it must be a particular nation or territory (Kyridis,
2009, p.4). Additionally, the two ‘logically’ become identifiable with,
and indeed part of, one another. This is certainly the case of Argentina’s
5 “¡Tras su manto de neblinas,no las hemos de olvidar! ¡Las Malvinas, argentinas!
clama el viento y ruge el mar.” MARCHA DE LAS MALVINAS (MINISTERIO DE EDUCACIÓNDE LA
NACIÓN)

16. 13
Falklands anthem which cements the islands on the map as Argentina’s
and also grounds them as a national issue which should be cared about.
Moreover, under Billig’s notion of banal nationalism, ‘the unwaved flag
which is so forgettable, is at least as important as the memorable
moments of flag waving’ (1995, p.10). Whilst The March of the
Falklands therefore provides ceremonial legitimacy to the Malvinas
Argentinas cause, one must also examine the more mundane and
quotidian form in which this is expressed; the daily productions and
reproductions of the Argentine nation which are by no means
ceremonial nor explicitly provocative (Benwell & Dodds, 2011, p.443).
An example as such would be the official cartographic representation of
Argentina. Argentine law 26,651 establishes the ‘bicontinental’ map of
the Argentine Republic (see Appendix C), which shows the Falklands
along with the Sandwich Islands, South Georgia, and the Argentine
Antarctic claim as integral parts of the nation, as the only map to be
used in education at all levels and in public use by all national and
provincial bodies (Institutio Geográfico Nacional, 2010). With such
profound and unquestionable inclusion it is overwhelmingly clear that,
from the everyday to the most ceremonial reproductions, the Argentine
claim to the Falklands is firmly placed on the official national agenda
Furthermore, Hobsbawn (1990) notes how, from a governmental
perspective; it has historically been in the interest of the state to create
and reinforce, whenever possible, the construction of the imagined
community as the national narrative ‘whenever and however they

17. 14
originated’ in order to achieve the greatest form of consensus from its
citizens. As a consequence, governments use the ‘powerful machinery’
of the state – most notably the process of primary education of its
citizens – to create an inculcating image of the nation, employing the
symbols and sentiments of said imagined community to create a
national image and history: the patria (pp.91-92). In the case of
Argentina, the importance of constructing a collective national narrative
has been a consistent objective of nearly every historical Argentine
government. This is due to the Argentine national political environment
being characterised by both its ‘strained relationship between citizen
and state’ as its ‘disunity and tensions’ – a consequence of the
confrontation of liberalism and the legacy of personal dictatorship
which stems from the Spanish system of caudillismo (Dijkink, 1996,
p.75). Successful and profound national integrity has therefore been
paramount; the collective construct of argentinidad must be protected
to ensure a degree of national consensus and unity.
Subsequently, the Falklands play a one size fits all role in a politically
divided society which fosters a national ‘cause’ founded upon the
ideological value of the retroversion of the sovereignty to the people:
popular sovereignty (Luna, 1994, pp.65-66). Indeed, at all levels of
everyday life within Argentina, the Falkland Islands and their perceived
importance to the Argentine nation are present, and seldom questioned.
The Malvinas Argentinas movement provides a ready-made ‘them’ and
‘us’ situation which incorporates post-colonialist, constructivist and

18. 15
populist ideologies which underpin the construct of the patria as
outlined by Hobsbawm. This is also highlighted by Goebel (2011) who
notes that a persistently volatile and unstable political situation in
Argentina since the Second World War has increasingly given rise to a
nationalist agenda. This has been manifested across the political
spectrum, from the populist governments of Perón and the Kirchners to
various military dictatorships, most notably the administration of 1976
to 1983, named under the nationalist banner as the ‘National
Reorganisation Process’6 (pp.181-183). Certainly, is can be seen that
the role of nationalism in the Argentine Republic is both a complex and
vital part of national political discourse and identity; of which the
Malvinas Argentinas plays a key role. The next chapter will therefore
look to analyse how the islands have consistently featured on an erratic
national agenda over the latter half of the twentieth century.
6 ‘Proceso de Reorganización Nacional’

19. 16
3. Playing the ‘Malvinas’ card: dictatorship,
conflict and the return to democracy
With the Malvinas Argentinas playing such a grounding role in
argentinidad and the Argentine nation, it is unsurprising that the
national reception to the dictatorship’s ‘recovery’ of the islands in April
1982, described by Goebel as a ‘jingoistic celebration’ (p.181), engaged
Argentine society in its entirety. The scenes witnessed at the Plaza de
Mayo in Buenos Aires on 2nd April 1982 provide a near textbook
example of the profound emotion and social mobilisation that is carried
by the nationalistic pan-Argentine movement encompassed by the
Falklands question. The Plaza de Mayo, heart of Argentine political life,
attracted an ecstatic crowd of tens of thousands of people upon the
announcement that the Malvinas Argentinas had been ‘re-incorporated
into the national territory’ (Robben, 2005, p.313). It was the successful
binding of populist and nationalist agendas by General Galtieri that
appealed directly to the Argentine people. The nationalist card of hopes
of the recuperation of the Falklands was combined with the populist
representation of the British as a repressing force which allegedly
expelled the Argentine population from the islands 150 years
beforehand (Robben, 2005, pp.312-313). As pointed out by Heywood,
both nationalism and populism advocate the existence of an ‘other’ to

20. 17
which people are encouraged to stand up against (2007, p.291), thus it
can be seen how the Malvinas Argentinas cause allows both ideologies
to simultaneously work together to create a near unanimous
environment of consensus, mobilisation and collaboration of everyday
Argentine citizens.
Certainly, it can be argued that the co-existence of populist and
nationalist tendencies in Argentine politics leads to the conclusion that
‘the Argentinian mind can easily switch to new national goals that
satisfy the need for national dignity but do not particularly serve the
national interest in other ways’, the persistent and resilient Malvinas
Argentinas movement being a primary example (Dijkink, 1996, p.85).
Without a doubt, the islands form an integral part of the constructed
argentindad; thus, in Argentina, the point of discussion regarding the
Falklands does not revolve around whom they belong to, yet how to put
right an injustice served to the entire nation by the British occupation of
national territory.
Furthermore, Dabat and Lorenzano note how the Falklands debate in
Argentina is an ideological war of ‘national liberation against
imperialism’ (1984, p.39), thus, even with the complete collapse of the
dictatorship in the aftermath of the conflict of 1982, the Malvinas
Argentinas movement in Argentina was able to be reshaped to support
the new political system. Whilst under the dictatorship, military action
over the islands was sanctioned by a government which had the
Argentine people ‘looking for their satiety’ in the fascist junta (Pauls,

21. 18
2008), the revised vision of argentindad – now championing peace and
democracy – still maintained the Malvinas Argentinas as a key national
issue, a notion which can be explained by the theory of democracy and
democratic peace; ‘in a diplomatic sense Argentina is making a
concerted effort to draw very clear distinctions between the past and
the present, from the ‘hot/irrational’ aggressor to the ‘cool’ pacifist’
(Benwell and Dodds, 2011, p.446).
Certainly, even though political ideology in the new Argentina still relies
on the Malvinas Argentinas as a support for nationwide unity and
consensus, the post 1983 dogma has been reworked into a
contemporary and international post-colonial discourse, presented and
manifested through the forms of peaceful diplomacy and democratic
peace, as outlined by Doyle (1995, pp.180-184), thus serving to
champion and endorse the return to democracy in Argentina.
Democracy is presented as a vital component of the recuperation of the
Falklands and, in turn, the Malvinas Argentinas movement has helped
support the cause for sustained democratic governance. Furthermore,
post-colonial ideology has enabled the populist battle between the
oppressed and the oppressor to be transferred from one between the
pueblo and the dictatorship to one of a united Argentine nation against
continued British colonial oppression; a marriage of populist and post-
colonial ideology. Moreover, the national search for dignity outlined by
Dijkink (1996, p.85) has played a role in sustaining and maintaining the
stability of the Argentine nation. In a post-conflict and post-dictatorship

22. 19
environment the Malvinas Argentinas cause proved remarkably buoyant
in grounding a popular national consensus.
Additionally, Billig’s theory of banal nationalism can also be found in the
popular culture from the transition era. Luis Puenzo’s 1985 film, The
Official Story7, provides a clear example of the Malvinas Argentinas
rhetoric being used to aide Argentine political transition. The film,
which centres on the search for truth and justice by the Argentine
people in light of the forced disappearances that occurred during the
dictatorship, addresses the need to ‘denounce the past’ in the newly
democratised Argentina (Aguilar, 2008, p.20). It also provides an early
example of post-dictatorship memory in a nation that had been
‘humiliated’ by the actions of the military junta in its final years in
power; corruption, economic decline, and gross violations of personal
freedoms that culminated in the failed 1982 campaign to retake the
Falklands, and the subsequent restoration of democracy in Argentina
(Falicov, 2001, p.123).
It is of great interest to analyse the role of the Malvinas Argentinas in
such a narrative. When a young middle-class Argentine woman
comments to her partner that it ‘seems outrageous’8 that her maid is
still waiting for news on her cousins who were sent to fight in the
Malvinas conflict9 despite it being ‘over a year since the war was lost’10,
7 La historia oficial
8 ‘parece injusto’
9 It is common knowledge in Argentina that there remain over 100 unmarked
graves of Argentine servicemen who died in the Falklands conflict of 1982. These

23. 20
her partner responds saying ‘a battle was lost, not the war’11. Indeed, in
a film which focuses on putting right the wrongs of the dictatorship, the
banal portrayal of the Falklands conflict of 1982 as an ongoing fight
which must continue as part of the Malvinas Argentinas dogma provides
a stark contrast to the open and rampant criticism of military
repression, also highlighting the importance that the collective long-
term goal of the recovery of the islands is a vital component of the
survival of the Argentine nation (Femenia, 1996, p.207).
Furthermore, it is not just the banalities of Argentine culture that
reiterate the importance of the Falklands in post-dictatorship socio-
political discourse. The creation of a national holiday under Argentine
law 25,370, officially named ‘Day of the Veterans and Fallen of the
Malvinas War’12, carried the explicit intention of ‘raising the profile of
the Falklands question’13, in an attempt to pacify both the military and
the general public in the wake of the renunciation of the coup d’état of
1976 (Página/12, 2001). Anderson notes the importance of national
holidays and their banal notions, such as ceremonial raising of the
national flag and singing of the national anthem stating that; ‘no matter
how banal the words and mediocre the tunes, there is in this singing
and experience of simultaneity. At precisely such moments, people
wholly unknown to each other utter the same words to the same
men are believed to have been ‘disappeared’ by the Military regime and
subsequently sent to fight in the islands (El Día, 2012)
10 ‘ya hace un año que se perdió la guerra’
11 ‘se perdió una batalla, no la guerra’
12 Día del Veterano de Guerra y de los Caídos en la Guerra de las Malvinas
13 ‘elevar el rango del tema Malvinas’

24. 21
melody. The image: unisonance.’ (1991, p.145). Thus, during
contentious moments in post-dictatorship political discourse, in which
Argentine people find themselves on the verge of staunch division, if not
complete polarisation, the Malvinas Argentinas cause creates an
important opportunity and reasoning for a certain degree of political
consensus. The reinstatement of the national holiday, dedicated to the
‘fallen heroes’14 of 1982 and the continual project of the restoration of
the islands as part of the Argentine patria, highlight the key role of the
Falklands in creating a collective consensus in a socially and politically
sensitive and fragile nation in the processes of coming to terms with the
events and consequences of military rule. In the case of ‘Malvinas
Day’15, as noted by the socially progressive Argentinian newspaper
Página/12 (2001), it was a vital mean by which to pacify the diverse
Argentine political spectrum. The Malvinas Argentinas card and the
emphasis of their significance to the Argentina patria and argentinidad
were of great importance of achieving a near unanimous consensus
over the fragile issue of remembering the nation’s polemic and often
painful past.
Moreover, such processes highlight how the Malvinas Argentinas
movement incorporates elements of patriotism, providing the ‘effective
basis of belief that underpins all forms or nationalism’ (Heywood, 2007,
p.155). Love for fatherland, which in Argentine ideology includes the
Falkland Islands by default, creates an environment in which patriotic
14 ‘héroes caídos’
15 ‘Día de las Malvinas’

25. 22
civilians are prepared to collaborate with the nationalist movement
even though many patriots are by no means nationalists (Heywood,
2007, pp.144-147). Consequently, the Malvinas Argentinas credo
provides an extremely powerful way in which to unite divided fractions
of Argentine political society; if not under nationalist ideology, than
under the banner of patriotism.

26. 23
4. A case of territorial nationalism?
‘All nations require a past to justify their current existence and to
provide a rationale for territorial claims’ (Storey, 2012, p.108), thus the
next chapter will discuss how the Malvinas Argentinas dogma is
manifested as a form of territorial nationalism and what effect that has
on the Argentine nationalist movement. Nationalism and the national
rhetoric are always linked to a perceived territory by default, forming a
key component in creating the concept of a ‘national geography’ which
plays the role of a visual and geographic anchor of the national vision
(Storey, 2012, p.107).
Consequently, the importance of territory within the discourse of
nationhood is paramount, argued by Herb to be the only ‘tangible
evidence of the nation’s existence’ (1999, p.10). Furthermore, not only
does territory facilitate the existence of the nation, the ideas of lost or
unrecovered territory are employed in a similar way to ‘remind people
that the nation is incomplete and will remain so until the ‘lost territory
is returned to the fold,’ creating an identifiable and easily mobilised
national cause (Storey, 2012, p.113). So how can this be applied to the
case of Argentina and the Falkland Islands?
Firstly, one must look at the way in which territorial nationalism has
been incorporated as a founding principle of the Argentine nation.

27. 24
Since the 1830s, Argentine intellectuals, such as President Domingo
Sarmiento, have written of the Argentine national destiny of territorial
expansion and the civilisation of the South American continent, the key
doctrine behind the Conquest of the Desert of 1870s which, according to
Ray, marks a ‘fundamental milestone’ in the process of Argentine nation
building in nineteenth-century Argentina (2011, pp.144-145).
Furthermore, ideology behind Argentine territorial nationalism and
conquest is manifested in a cultural sphere through the portrayal of the
valiant gaucho in the notion of argentinidad. Leopoldo Lugones’ famous
publication El payador16 (1916) emphasised and praised the heroism of
the honourable gaucho, who has come to ‘represent the pure essence of
all that was good and noble about the Argentinean’ (Ray, 2011, p.150).
Thus, due to this romanticisation of the good Argentine gaucho and the
heroism of argentinidad, the Malvinas Argentinas have become a key
representation of the Argentine nation, fusing cultural and national
identity with a clearly defined territorial claim. The idea of the re-
conquest and civilisation of the islands from the ‘barbaric’ British
pirates therefore provides ideological grounds on which to ground the
Argentine nationalist cause. The ‘brave’ gauchos expelled by the British
serve to represent the argentinidad which are subsequently bound with
the islands themselves to make use of the nationalist-territorial
ideology. Indeed, it is the symbolic significance of said territory which
allows leaders to incorporate it into nationalist-territorial rhetoric even
if few – or even no – citizens inhabit said place (Storey, 2012, p.120)
16 A payador is a gaucho minstrel.

28. 25
Furthermore, it is not just in the historic and somewhat folkloric
Argentine doctrine of conquest and civilisation that the islands have
been used to bind national territorial ideology. Incorporating the banal
constituents of nationalism explored in the previous chapters,
Hobsbawm notes that the particular importance of specific places seen
as key parts of the national territory and their prevalence in national
songs and anthems, highlight the way in which the a geographic sense of
place is integral to creating and also sustaining a national imagination
(1990, pp.92-93). Indeed, the March of the Falklands anthem explored
in chapter 2 also provides a clear example of the importance of the
territorial imagery that is used in the Malvinas Argentinas rhetoric. The
second verse of the anthem places firm importance on the inseparable
mix of the Argentine nation and her lost islands saying;
“Nor from those horizons
Shall our ensign be stripped
As its white is on the hills
And its azure tints the sea”
MARCH OF THE FALKLANDS (ARGENTINE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION,
2014C)17
Indeed it is this strong imagery of the nation and her territory which is
alluded to by David Storey, who notes that not only do such anthems
17 “Ni de aquellos horizontes, nuestra enseña han de arrancar. Pues su blanco está en
los montes y en su azul se tiñe el mar” MARCHA DE LAS MALVINAS (MINISTERIO DE
EDUCACIÓNDE LA NACIÓN)

29. 26
elevate ordinary landscapes into ‘something extraordinary’, they more
importantly serve as a means by which politicians can make ‘territorial
illusions’ of the nation that bind the national discourse with political
consensus; with ‘ideas then put in the service of political leaders, a
proletarian territorial rhetoric may also be found’ (pp.115-116). In the
case of the Malvinas Argentinas, it can be seen that the March of the
Falklands, banally evokes nationalist engagement of the Argentine
people through the imposition of the white and azure of the national
flag onto a physical territorial space. In a similar manner, the
cartographic outline of the islands (as seen in Appendix C) provides a
similar reminder of the lost Malvinas Argentinas through the territorial
representation of the islands.
Moreover, it is the striking manner in which the banal representations
of the nationalist-territorial rhetoric of the Malvinas Argentinas which
serves to demonstrate the powerful role the islands play in the
formation and maintenance of national political consensus. A new fifty
peso note, strategically announced on April 2nd 2014 – Malvinas Day – is
to feature a map of the islands along with the ‘heroic’ Gaucho Rivero,
was claimed by current president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, to
show a ‘historic, social and political vindication of Argentina’s sovereign
rights over the disputed territories’, claiming that the new note
represents ‘a peaceful claim in a sovereign element in all the extension
of the word, as is a currency of legal tender in Argentina’. Certainly, this
banal show of territorial nationalism represents a blatant use of the

30. 27
Malvinas Argentinas rhetoric in order to create a populist political
consensus; ‘it will compel every Argentinian to keep alive on a daily
basis the flames of love for our islands which are and always will be
Argentinian’ according to the Argentine President (Perry, 2014).
Additionally, it has been pointed out by several Argentine intellectuals
who openly criticise the populist nature of the Kirchner administration
that the President is, once again, using the nationalistic-territorial
rhetoric to overshadow certain failings of the political administration.
In the aftermath of the announcement of the new fifty peso note,
Argentine economist Gastón Utrera suggested that the ‘new fifty peso
note is missing a zero’18 (2014), noting how, whilst he is not against a
banknote featuring the Falkland Islands, it is a shameless attempt by the
president to bring the Falklands question directly into the economic
sphere. By producing a banknote featuring the islands, the president is
implicitly converting the economic failings of the Kirchner
administration into the national question of the lost islands.
Utrera also highlights how the ‘high inflation’19 which Argentina has
been suffering in recent years is a much more important national
priority than Kirchner’s persistent positioning of the Malvinas
Argentinas rhetoric in seemingly unrelated political and economic
questions. Nevertheless, this is arguably the case; the Falklands
rhetoric binds together nationalist, post-colonial and populist ideology
which, once converted into territorial strategies, as in the case of the
18 ‘nuevo billete de $ 50 le falta un cero’
19 ‘inflación alta’

31. 28
Malvinas, creates a sense of ‘national wellbeing’ which can be used to
‘attain broader political goals’ (Storey, 2012, p.136).

32. 29
5. Argentine irredentism and the perception of
territorial losses and gains
Whilst it has been argued that nationalist ideology supported by a
populist post-colonial rhetoric grounds the importance of the Malvinas
Argentinas in Argentine political discourse, there exists argument to
suggest that the Malvinas Argentinas rhetoric is a manifestation of a
strand of nationalism described by Escudé in his writings on Argentine
territorial nationalism as a ‘national superiority complex’ (1988, p.161).
It has been suggested that territorial claims to the Falkland Islands,
along with South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Chile’s
Patagonian ice fields and the Argentine Antarctic, known as Argentine
irredentism, the ‘restoration of the Viceroyalty’20 (Cavaleria, 2004,
pp.17-18), form a distinctive outcome of a form of nationalism which, in
Latin America, is unique to Argentina (Escudé, 1988, p.162). Also
described as Argentine ‘exceptionalism’ by Tulchin (1996, p.194),
Escudé theorises how certain nationalistic features of argentinidad,
identified by a series of polls undertaken by the IPSA (see Appendix H),
are the basis for Argentine territorial nationalism and also the reason
why perceived territorial losses and gains are of amplified importance
to the Argentine nation and her people.
20 ‘La restauración del virreinato’

33. 30
Certainly, in relation to Argentine rhetoric surrounding the Falkland
Islands, it is suggested by Escudé that ‘governments are caught in a
perverse cultural and political trap’ which consists of several variables,
most importantly public opinion and the opinion of the elites. He
argues that far from using territorial ideology such as irredentism to
manipulate public opinion and gain political consensus, it is the intrinsic
national convictions held by the people, particularly the bourgeoisie and
elite segments of society, who pressure governments to be seen to be
acting in the interest of the long-term territorial aims of the nation in
the name of the patria (1988, p.164).
Furthermore, in a second paper by Escudé, it is noted how – under the
political and social pressure created by irredentism and the belief in
Argentine greatness – territory was systematically ‘added’ to the
imagined nation through the incorporation of the territories outlined in
the restoration of the viceroyalty into the socio-cultural dimension of
Argentine society (1992, pp.5-6). Indeed, in the decade between 1938
and 1948, over one million square kilometers of territory was ‘added’ to
Argentina through their incorporation onto the official map of the
nation and into the textbooks of Argentine schoolchildren (p.37).
Nevertheless, Escudé calls upon a report conducted by the US Council
on Foreign Relations from 1951 which notes the following:
"Argentina has rather consistently lacked the proper
perspective of her position in the world. The Argentines

34. 31
(have) tended to think themselves the rivals of the United
States, but they (are) no such thing."
(in Escudé, 1992, p.38)
This incorporation of such vast amounts of territory over which
Argentina exercised no de facto control, along with the increased
perceived importance and weight of the Malvinas Argentinas dogma
during the latter half of the twentieth century, can be through the
application of the economic theory of perception of losses and gains: the
prospect theory (McClure, 2004, p.5-6). Applying this economic theory
to the case of the Falklands, McClure describes how the ‘ardent
nationalism’ created by the national superiority complex outlined by
Escudé fostered a political environment which lead to the systematic
governmental inclusion of such a vast amount of territory into the
Argentine consciousness because, naturally, perceived territorial
expansion is seen as a gain. Due to the nature of the territorial
ambitions which played a key part of argentinidad, the political benefits
of perceived expansion were to be of great use to the governing political
parties (Escudé, 1992, p.35).
Nevertheless, in the case of the prospect theory, a loss is unacceptable if
it differs from the perceived status quo, even if the reality of the
situation remains unchanged. More importantly, any losses must be
recuperated in order to return to the ‘rightful position’ (McClure, 2004,
p.4). Whilst the majority of the territories included in the expanded
national territorial concept are uninhabited and maintain a neutral de

35. 32
facto status quo (the vast Antarctic territories being a primary
example), the Falkland Islands are not. As a consequence, whilst the
islands began reappearing on Argentine maps as a territorial gain, the
de facto situation remained a loss. Worse still, once they had – on paper
– been cemented into the imagined territory of the nation, continued
British sovereignty over the islands presented a political faux pas;
‘coming to grips with the fact that these imaginary territories were not
part of Argentina would be computed as a loss’ (McClure, 2004, p.3).
Through the application of the prospect theory to the idea of Argentine
irredentism, it can be argued that the Malvinas Argentinas rhetoric
creates a situation in which territorial nationalism is advocated by
Argentine civilians, and that any formal rendition over their sovereignty
would be a betrayal of argentinidad, of the nation (the patria), and of
the people (the pueblo). Certainly, in a newly democratised Argentina,
the constitutional government, whilst ‘far removed’ from the military
regime in terms of ideology and practices, never ‘dared’ to renounce any
Argentine claim to the islands or officially accept that the conflict ended
(Escudé, 1988, p.163), a practice which has been continued by every
Argentine government since the conflict of 1982. Even the Menem
administration of 1989-1999, which re-established diplomatic links
with the United Kingdom and solved twenty minor border disputes with
Chile, whilst having showing a certain degree of remorse for the bloody
conflict which took place, kept a firm stance on the Malvinas rhetoric.
Menem’s affirmation that ‘Argentina would continue to assert its claim

36. 33
to sovereignty over the islands’ (BBC, 1998), demonstrates how
Argentine politicians are themselves restrained by the Falklands
questions due to the sentiments of the Argentine people.
On the contrary, Benwell and Dodds criticise certain national
governments, such as the Kirchner administration, for intentionally
pursuing a nationalistic-territorial rhetoric (2010, p.445), claiming that
there exists ‘variations in the political performances of Argentine
politicians in regional and international forums such as the United
Nations, which can bring themes of territorial nationalism to the
forefront of public consciousness at particular moments’ (p.448). They
also call on controversial television adverts such as the 2012
commercial which featured an Argentine athlete training on the islands
followed by the proclamation ‘to compete on English soil, we train on
Argentine soil’21, to demonstrate how banal territorialism and the
Malvinas Argentinas dogma can be used to politicise almost every
element of everyday life, if so desired (p.444).
Furthermore, it is acknowledged that the islands have the capacity to be
used to manipulate public opinion; Escudé (1988, pp.164-165) and
Tulchin (1996), argue that irredentism has become such a ‘firmly rooted
dimension’ of Argentine political culture, to which ‘rulers and ruled
alike are subject’ (pp.163-166). This could suggest that the political
power held by Malvinas Argentinas is due to the Argentine people
placing the islands on the political agenda through the irredentist
21 ‘para competir en suelo inglés entrenemos en suelo argentino’

37. 34
ideology and the historical importance of national exceptionalism.
Likewise, there is much evidence to suggest that Argentine irredentism
is another ideology which has been instilled from above.

38. 35
6. The Falklands in Argentine education
practices: a case of patriotic indoctrination?
Now that is has been established how the Argentine vision of the
Malvinas Argentinas constitutes a complex mix of nationalist, populist,
post-colonial, territorial, irredentist and – arguably – democratic
rhetoric, it is important to address the following question:
Is the relentless claim of the islands as an integral part of
national territory a doctrine? If so, to what extent could it
be described that the Argentine people are indoctrinated
by nationalist discourse surrounding the Falklands?
Thus, the purpose of this chapter will be to critically analyse how the
various strands of nationalism explored in the previous chapters could
be presented and reproduced by the Argentine state as a political
doctrine.
In order to do so, the sociological process of indoctrination will be
applied to the case study of Zamba’s Amazing Adventure in the
Falklands22, an episode from a series of cartoons entitled The Amazing
Adventures of Zamba23 created by Paka Paka; an Argentine television
channel wholly owned and administered by the Ministry of Education,
aimed at providing a variety of shows and original programming for
22 ‘La asombrosa excursión de Zamba en las Islas Malvinas’
23 ‘La asombrosa excursión de Zamba’

39. 36
children between the ages of two and twelve years (Argentine Ministry
of Education, 2014).
The Amazing Adventures of Zamba consists of three series, each of a
dozen twenty minute episodes, centred around the different journeys
through history of the protagonist, Zamba, created to educate Argentine
schoolchildren about the history of the nation. The series were aired on
national television channel, Paka Paka, between 2010 and 2012 and
have been periodically rerun in succeeding years (Argentine Ministry of
Education, 2014c). During the episode based around the Malvinas
Argentinas and the conflict of 1982, Zamba, an Argentinian schoolchild
from the northern province of Formosa, is transported in a fighter jet
back in time to the islands at the time of the 1982 military invasion. He
subsequently learns why the islands are Argentine with the aide of the
song ‘Why are we going to war?’24 which explains how English pirates
stole the islands and that it is an ‘injustice which has to be put right’ (see
Appendix F).
Indeed, this particular episode received notable criticism from within
Argentina for the inaccurate legitimisation of history and the intent of
the state to create a standard verification of political discourse (Gullino,
2013, pp.8-9). The use of patriotic songs and the emotive expression of
the ‘pathos’ and the portrayal of the Fakllands conflict as a ‘painful
fact’25 are simultaneously taken advantage of in order to ground the
Falklands issue in Argentine national identity (Guillino, 2013, p.4; see
24 ‘¿Por qué vamos a la guerra?
25 ‘hecho doloroso’

40. 37
Appendix F and Appendix G). Furthermore, psychologists Carretero and
González highlight how the Falklands debate is transformed by the
cartoon into a present-day problem, thus being used to prematurely
politicise the nation’s youth (pp.221, 2013). Marcos Novaro, sociologist
and doctor in Philosophy condemned the series stating that; ‘the state
cannot provide such low-quality programming with so many defects
and, above all, broadcasting particular ways of thinking’26 (in
Struminger, 2012). Could this be described as the Malvinas Argentinas
as an example of educative indoctrination?
Philosopher of ethics and education, Richard Peters (1965), writes that
education is centred on the teaching of modes of thought and awareness
– knowledge – described as the ‘public inheritance’ (p.53). He also
points out how primary education in society is an active process of
socialising children into the ‘citadel of civilisation’ (p.107).
Furthermore, it has been noted that the introduction of the process of
assimilation into education makes the whole process vulnerable to
potential indoctrination (Kazepides in Thiessen, 1985, p.233). Thus, in
applying this to the case of Zamba’s Amazing Adventure in the Falklands,
there exists a line of argument to suggest that the Argentine state
indoctrinates schoolchildren to follow the Malvinas Argentinas
conviction from an early age through the simultaneous process of
education and socialisation in order to instill a nationalist consensus.
26 ‘El estado no puede dar productos de tan poca calidad, que tienen tantos
defectos y que encima transmiten formas de pensar’

41. 38
Certainly, it is not to say that the representation of the historical facts
surrounding the sovereignty of the islands are untrue, yet they are
presented in such a way that embellishes the historical truth,
exaggerating the huge injustice that has been served to Argentina by the
British (Struminger, 2012; Appendix G). Thus, if we compare this to
Moore’s theory of indoctrination, which highlights one of the key
strands of indoctrination as the ‘one sided or biased presentation of a
debatable issue’ (1972, p.93), also supported by Thiessen (1985) who
states that ‘indoctrinatory methods involve inculcating a higher degree
of certainty and conviction than is warranted by the evidence’ (p.235),
there is evidence to suggest that there exists a degree indoctrination in
Argentina regarding the Falkland Islands which provides an overly
nationalistic Argentina-centric historical account thus amplifying their
importance in Argentine national identity, ideology and discourse.
This is of particular importance when applied to the findings of BBC
journalist, Sue Lloyd-Roberts (2013). Upon asking various Argentines
born after the 1982 conflict what the islands mean to them, she notes
the following:
‘“When we are very young, we are told about them at
school," 25-year-old Julia says. "We know that the islands
are ours."
"Children are brainwashed," says 30-year-old Federico,
"they are taught about the islands before they are old
enough to understand."

42. 39
But his contemporary, Jeremias, responds angrily to this
notion saying: "I was not brainwashed. I know that Las
Malvinas are Argentine, for two reasons - historical and
geographical."’
Examples such as The Amazing Adventures of Zamba, and their
particular representation of Argentine history, show how the state
continually presents a particular belief onto its citizens, to the extent
that they are ‘drilled to act’, and respond in a homogenous non-
interrogative manner (Edensor, 2002, p.20). Thiessen also indicates
that indoctrination is typically prevalent in primary education before
the child reaches a stage of active and grounded questioning; ‘there is
an aspect of the learning process which involves simple trust and
unquestioning belief’ (1985, p.240). As Julia in Lloyd-Roberts’ report
states, Argentine children are told when they are very young that they
the islands are theirs. Furthermore, it is recognised by the second
interviewee, Federico, that the Malvinas Argentinas dogma is taught to
children before they are old enough to question or comprehend the full
complexity of the issue, further endorsing the theories of indoctrination.
Nevertheless, it is the response from Jeremais in the report that
provides the most interesting conclusion. Whilst Moore (1972)
concedes that it is necessary that primary learning begin with an
‘authoritative and indoctrinative situation’ (p.97), Theiseen highlights
how it is doubtful that those indoctrinated at a young age ever emerge
to truly question said doctrine (1985, pp.240-241). Thus, intent on

43. 40
asserting that he is not ‘brainwashed’, the thirty-year-old Argentine
refers to his acquired knowledge – the ‘public inheritance’ described
earlier in this chapter – that he has been taught to provide historical and
geographical reasoning for their being so. Indeed, this knowledge is
arguably a call upon state-administered indoctrination which has been
manifested by successive Argentine governments who have maintained
a firm and continuous hold over national educational practices since the
mid-nineteenth century (Gvirtz, 2008, p.3).
Moreover, it is argued that the Malvinas Argentinas cause is employed to
prematurely politicise Argentine youth in a partisan society (Carretero
and Gonzalez, 2008; Gullino, 2013), with such deliberate and persistent
educative practices serving to emphasise how the Argentine political
class have found there to be great political leverage provided by the
Malvinas Argentinas sentiment. Furthermore, in parallel with the
constructivist governmental nature of nationalism outlined by
Hobsbawm, the way in which the Falklands question is taught could be
described as form of national educational indoctrination of successive
generations of Argentine children which serves to provide on-tap
political consensus. Indeed, the relentless and particular manifestation
of the Malvinas Argentinas to the youngest of citizens demonstrates the
central role that the islands play in the Argentine socio-political sphere.
Hobsbawm himself suggests that all nations need a ‘suitable’ past and
that, if one does not exist, ‘it can always be invented’ (1998, p.6).

44. 41
7. A Post-Malvinas discourse?
The post-colonial rhetoric of territorial nationalism presented by the
Falklands question is a complex dialogue between the citizen, the state
and the diverse multinational socio-political sphere in which it lies. As a
consequence, it is ‘not fixed but negotiated, the subject of dialogue and
creativity [is] influenced by the contexts in which it is produced’
(Edensor, 2002, p.17). Therefore, this chapter will look at the
importance of the islands in the twenty-first-century Argentine social
and political context, with the aim of establishing whether the pressure
to conform to the longstanding assertion of the Malvinas Argentinas
remains relevant in the contemporary Argentina. Indeed, whilst the
systematic exposure to the multiple forms of nationalism outlined in the
previous chapters is inevitable, the concept of nationalistic discourse
ultimately lies in the complex everyday situation and the perception of
the individual (Müller, 2008, pp.330-331).
In February 2012, several well-respected Argentine public figures
published a document entitled The Falklands: an alternative vision27 in
national newspaper Pagina/12. The document, which bears the
signatories of seventeen of the nation’s prominent intellectuals, openly
criticises the ‘climate of propelled national agitation’28 and the
‘obsessive affirmation of the principle that the Falklands are
27 ‘Las Malvinas: una visión alternativa’
28 ‘clima de agitación nacionalista impulsado’

45. 42
Argentina’s’29. They argue that such attitudes hinder bilateral
discussion over the management of the islands resources, asserting that
‘we need to abandon the agitation of the Falklands cause and develop an
alternative vision which overcomes conflict and supports a pacific
resolution’30. Certainly, in twenty-first century Argentina where the
wounds of war and dictatorship are slowly beginning to heal, the
Falkland Islands – far from fostering an outright nationalist rhetoric –
seem to increasingly reflect an internationalist political agenda, outlined
by Goldmann as a ‘set of beliefs to the effect that if there is more law,
organisation, exchange, and communication among states, this will
reinforce peace and security’ (1994, p.2).
Furthermore, even though the scars of the 1982 conflict remain
‘extremely raw’ in Argentina, there is almost unanimous consensus
reflecting the strong desire to avoid the repeat of actions of the
dictatorship on ideological grounds, including military action in the
Falklands (Benwell and Dodds, 2011, p.446). After interviewing an
extensive sample of Argentine youths from different provinces, Benwell
and Dodds noted a significant indifference towards the islands. Whilst
responses weren’t unanimous, the following was noted: ‘young people
seems to both reproduce and resist aspects of Argentine territorial
nationalism as constructed by the government… many respondents did
not place symbolic importance on the Islands as sovereign Argentine
territory’ (2011, p.448). Indeed, it could be argued that whilst the
29 ‘la afirmación obsesiva del principio “Las Malvinas argentinas”’
30 ‘necesitamos abandonar la agitación de la causa-Malvinas y elaborar una visión
alternativa que supere el conflicto y aporte a su resolución pacífica’

46. 43
islands remain an important patriotic symbol of the nation, their
importance on the populist nationalistic agenda is beginning to wane as
the effects of an internationalist agenda promoted by the values held by
the Western democratic peace theory erodes the most pronounced
areas of outright nationalism (Baylis, 2011, pp.230-232; Doyle, 1995,
p.181)
Moreover, this increased post-Malvinas sentiment, even in the face of
the staunchly populist-nationalistic administration of current president
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (Finchlestein, 2014), also suggests that
the Malvinas Argentinas rhetoric is more a patriotic anecdote than an
national doctrine, as Crittenden writes, indoctrination in education is
the failure to cultivate ‘intellectual virtues’ (1972, p.141), and it is
evident that there do exist a high degree of such virtues in Argentine
society. Nevertheless, it could equally be argued that the public
condemnation of government policy which takes advantage and
continues to promote the Malvinas Argentinas cause highlights the lack
of a critical approach towards the role and function of the Islands in
Argentine society and politics.
However, whilst internationalism may be the argument that is used by
some Argentine intellectuals over the contemporary political
environment surrounding the Islands, the publication was sufficiently
polemic to provoke several other prominent intellectuals, such as
political scientist Edgardo Mocca, to brand such critics as unpatriotic,
using the opportunity to criticise the Argentine progressive social

47. 44
movement stating; ‘some of the signatories have invested a lot in the
democratic culture of our country. This document is definitely not one
of them’31 (Mocca for Revista Debate, 2012). Thus, whilst there does –
to a certain extent – exist an increasing number of Argentines who are
seemingly less bothered about the national claim to the islands, the
Falklands question has the potential to be used as a pawn in a divided
Argentine political establishment. The Peronists will embrace the
Malvinas Argentinas and their national rhetoric, whilst their opponents
will deliberately employ the internationalist democratic rhetoric
surrounding the islands, with the aim of embracing and promoting a
new progressive national discourse and actively discrediting the
Peronist movement (La Nación, 2010; Mocca, 2012).
Nevertheless, the fact that the Malvinas Argentinas represent such
strongly held political ideologies, which are manifested by various
fractions of nationalist ideological discourse, demonstrate how, even to
a generation of politically exasperated Argentines, the Islands play an
important role to the nation. Even the act of being seemingly
disinterested in the issue, a conscious reaction to the status quo of the
Malvinas Argentinas dogma, shows how their symbolic political and
ideological value continues to underwrite their importance in the
twenty-first century.
31 ‘algunos de los firmantes han hecho aportes importantes a la cultura
democrática de nuestro país. Este documento, decididamente, no es uno de ellos’

48. 45
Additionally, contemporary discourse over the Islands has also seen the
emergence of a new dynamic which has the potential to polarise
ideology: the islands’ natural resources. Indeed, the confirmation of
significant oil reserves in the waters surrounding the Falkland Islands
has put a significant economic value on the islands to which the
Malvinas Argentinas rhetoric has to adapt. Unsurprisingly the populist
Kirchner administration has continued to apply the post-colonial cause
to the Falklands question, the British are now held culpable for stealing
not only territory from Argentina and her people, yet precious natural
resources (as seen in Appendix A) (Mercopress, 2014c). Certainly, it
could be suggested that the economic value of the islands plays into the
hands of the nationalist Malvinas Argentinas rhetoric, as it adds yet
another fuel to the well-established fire.
Nevertheless, the economic resources also have the potential to create a
notable divide in opinion over the Malvinas, as demonstrated by the
Alternative Vision. The potential economic value of the islands presents
a new situation in which the realist ideological foundations, from which
the components of nationalism derive, are increasingly openly
challenged by the Argentine pueblo searching for practical solutions to
national problems. It could be argued that a constructivist movement is
slowly gaining ground as the nationalist movement become more
objectively questioned (Goldstein, 2004, pp.113-114). The Malvinas
Argentinas, which used to serve as a near unanimous symbol of
nationalistic discourse, have taken on a new international post-realist
dimension of internationalism and democratic peace. The recovery of

49. 46
the islands, just like the nation-state itself, is subject to a constantly
evolving international system in which the nationalist paradigm is
becoming increasingly less fashionable. As Hobsbawm (1990) writes;
‘nationalism today may mean very little indeed’ (pp.8-9). If this is to be
the case, the Malvinas Argentinas may begin to follow suit.

50. 47
8. Conclusion
"For us the Malvinas are part of our identity, a symbol, we learn about it
at school from a very young age. There is no town, no matter how small,
that hasn't got a monument, a street, a square or a school called Islas
Malvinas, or Malvinas Argentinas."
(Argentine war veteran in Schweimler, 2007).
This study has shown that the Malvinas Argentinas are an absolutely
integral part of the ideological construct of the Argentine nation. Indeed
they are represented throughout the nation as a founding part of the
patria, and this study has attempted to explain how and why they play
such a unique role in Argentine national discourse. Perhaps the most
striking fact that this paper has been able to highlight is how the unique
political environment in Argentina has given rise to such a potent and
complex dogma. Furthermore, as shown in the above quote, the
Malvinas Argentinas have themselves come to represent a part of what
it means to be Argentine; they represent the past pains and injustices
suffered by so many, yet the persistent hope of their recovery also
represents a longing for the future restoration of the former greatness
of the Argentine nation and her people.

51. 48
The complexity of the political ideology of nationalism is reflected by
the Malvinas Argentinas, in a world where ‘nationalism cannot be
confined to the peripheries’ (Billig, 1995, p.5). Even as artificial
constructs, the nation and the concept of nationhood are formed by
banal everyday representations of the fatherland. In the case of
Argentina and the Falklands, the islands are fully, perhaps overly,
represented from their inclusion in the constitution, their obligatory
appearance in official maps, on ceremonious occasions, or even in the
most banal and everyday environment.
Similarly, the long-standing question over the islands is a flexible and
transferrable issue which becomes attached to the most pressing
diverse of national questions, even if there is no strong or obvious
relationship. Nevertheless, there is cause to argue that the Malvinas
factor can also be used to unite a staunchly divided nation. However,
the depth and breadth of the contentious issues represented by the
Malvinas Argentinas are grounded in the imagery of the Argentine
nation. This territorial grounding is itself a consequence of the belief in,
and the desire for, Argentine greatness, manifested in part by national
irredentism (McClure, 2004, pp.1-3).
Furthermore, whilst somewhat controversial, there are grounds on
which to question whether the Malvinas Argentinas dogma is
administered as a doctrine by the Argentine state, to the extent that few
people question the neutrality or factual accuracy of the Argentine
claim; highlighting the fine line between the national interests of the

52. 49
people, and the representation of the islands to the people as an
emotive national priority.
In more recent times, the Malvinas Argentinas cause has provoked
increased criticism amongst certain Argentine intellectuals. Persistent
misgovernance in Argentina and mismanagement of the economy, even
in a now democratic state, have continued to highlight how – whilst
representative of so much – the Falkland Islands are not sufficient to
create a working national political consensus. Additionally, the added
dynamic of petroleum and other natural resources that the islands and
their waters demonstrate how the Malvinas Argentinas question
continues to be a cause for controversy, both nationally and
internationally.
Nevertheless, what is evident is that the islands have been, are, and will
continue to be an important and emotive issue for the Argentine people,
they represent so much to be won and, as an already ‘lost’ territory, so
little to lose. They represent the hurt and the hopes of an increasingly
anguished nation; ‘If the real Falklands, rather than the symbol, truly
mattered, a solution would have been found long ago. The crux is that
nationalist symbols matter so much’ (Goebel, 2012).

53. 50
Glossary ofTerms
Argentinidad Literally ‘Argentine-ness’; the qualities and
characteristics of being from and belonging
to the Argentine Republic.
Caudillismo The cultural phenomenon of revolutionary
Latin America that fosters the ideal of a
charismatic militia leader whoadvocates
populist reforms.
MalvinasArgentinas Literally the ‘Argentine Falklands’, used to
express the Argentine claim to the disputed
islands.
Patria The fatherland. One’s native land; nation.
Linked to its people by historical, legal and
sentimental factors.
Pueblo The everyday people whichmake up the
population of a certain place, region or
country.

54. 51
Appendices
Appendix A
An advert by the Administración
Federal de Ingresos Públicos
(Argentine Federal
Administration for Government
Revenue) placed at the port of
Buenos Aires, Argentina, which
reads: ‘The Falklands are
Argentine. And their natural
resources are too’.
(Source: Author, April 2013)

55. 52
Appendix B
A parked car at the Paso Internacional Los Libertadores border crossing
between Chile and Argentina bearing the cartographic outline of the
Falkland Islands stating that they are Argentine.
(Source: Author, August 2013)

56. 53
Appendix C
The official ‘bicontinental’ map of the Argentine Republic including the
Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), South Georgia and the South Sandwich
Islands (Islas Georgias del Sur y Sandwich del Sur) and the Argentine
Antarctic claim.
(Source: Instituto Geográfico Nacional)

57. 54
Appendix D
A series of stills of footage recorded at the Plaza de Mayo on the day of the
Argentine Military landing on the Islands, 2nd April 1982, showing an elated

58. 55
crowd brandishing banners celebrating the recovery of the islands as the
Malvinas Argentinas.
(Source: Iluminados por el fuego, 2005)

59. 56
Appendix E
A photograph taken in Buenos Aires on the day of the Argentine recovery
of the Falkland Islands, the banner in the foreground reads; ‘150 years
under the control of pirates, finally they’ve been recovered’.
(Source: Clarin, 2012)

60. 57
Spanish English
¿Por quévamosa laguerra?
Hay una coloniaen el medio del
mar
Que Inglaterra ocupa de forma
ilegal
Así las Malvinas hay que liberar
Fueron argentinas lo son y serán
Es una injusticia que hay que
reparar
Pero conla guerra siempre sale
mal
Las descubrió España siglo XVI
Francia e Inglaterra llegaron
después
Gente prepotente la tierra ocupó
Pero conreclamos volvióel
español
Fue en el virreinato la
gobernación
Igual Inglaterra no se resignó
Invadió a Buenos Aires 1806
Y otra vezlo hizo un año después
Con fuerza y coraje dijimos adiós
Y conla independencia se fue el
español
La argentina libre su tierra
heredó
Tres años más tarde el imperio
volvió
Expulsó a los criollos, bandera
plantó
Vuelta de obligado fue otra
invasión
No nos hace falta un emperador
No hay más colonias la moda ya
pasó
Es una injusticia que hay que
reparar
Pero conla guerra siempre sale
mal
Why are wegoingto war?
There’s a colony in the middle of the
sea
That England illegally occupies
That’s why we need to free the
Falklands
They were Argentina’s, they are, and
they alwayswill be
It’s an injustice that we need to put
right
But it alwaysends badly by going to
war
They were discoveredby Spain in the
16th Century
France and England arrived
afterwards
The land was occupied by conceited
people
But the Spainsh tactically came back
The viceroyalty wasthe governor
But England didn’t give up
They invaded Buenos Aires in 1806
And they did so again a year later
With forceand courage we sent them
packing
And withindependence the Spanish
left too
Free Argentina, inherited her lands
Three years later the empire returned
They expelled the criollos,they planted
their flag
Vuelta de Obligado was another
invasion
We don’t need an emperor
There are no more colonies, those days
have gone
It’s an injustice that we need to put
right
But it alwaysends badly by going to
war

61. 58
Appendix F
The song used to explain whichaims to explain the Argentina went to war
over the islands, from TheAmazingAdventures ofZamba:Zamba’s Amazing
Adventurein theFalklands
(Source: LaasombrosaexcursióndeZamba, 2012;Translation: Author)

62. 59

63. 60
Appendix G
Stills from the TheAmazingAdventures ofZamba:Zamba’s Amazing
Adventurein theFalklands
(Source: LaasombrosaexcursióndeZamba, 2012)

64. 61
“IPSA(Rise) pollsof1981,1982and 1984showthat a majorityofthe
populationthink:
(1) that the worldhas a greatdealto learnfrom Argentina;
(2) that Argentinahas nothingto learn fromthe world;
(3) that Argentinaisthe mostimportantcountryin Latin America;
(4) that in no country do peopleliveas wellas in Argentina;
(5) that Argentinadeserves animportantplacein theworld;
and(6) that Argentina's scientists andprofessionals arethebestinthe world.
Naturally,importantdifferences are registeredwithrespectto mostof these
perceptionswhensocio-demographicvariables aretakeninto account: most
university-trainedpeople,forexample,do notbelievethatinno countrydo
peopleliveas wellas in Argentina.Butadherenceto thestatements
'foreignershaveagreatdeal to learn fromus' and'Argentinadeserves an
importantplacein the world';is not associatedwiththesevariables:the
majorityin the first caseand the veryamplemajorityin the secondsupport
them no matter whatsocio-demographicsegmentis considered.”
Appendix H
Extractfrom Escudé’s bookArgentineTerritorialNationalism
(Source: Escudé,1988, pp.161-162)

65. 62
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