The role of Latin Americanness for Immigrant Activism in Europe. An exploration of qualitative interviews with Latin-American leaders

Abstract

This paper explores the motivation of 17 highly active Latin American immigrants in 6 European countries, using interviews from the POLITIS database of 176 interviews of civically active immigrants. It argues that there is a distinct notion of Latin American political culture, and that this notion can be identified in the interviews of the immigrant activists. Three types of activists have been identified which link their motivation in different ways to their Latin American background: The old leftist political activists clearly relate to their socialisation in the struggle against dictatorships and have adjusted their political engagement to their immigrant situation; the cultural activists relate to the positive aspects of Latin American heritage and culture and their function for integration; the young antidiscrimination activists integrate in academic or other groups and base their claims for equality in these contexts. While all interviewees make references to the general situation and their personal situation in their countries of origin which show similarities between Latin American countries, specifically the cultural activists in non-Latin European countries use the notion of Latin America as a taken for granted concept.