Homo Viator

I must have had a cheeky grin on my face when I first read the title of an interview that La Nacion did with Argentina's newly elected president, Cristina Kirchner. When asked which country she would like Argentina to follow, she said: "I would like a country like Germany". The Spanish newspaper smartly made this the title of their report on Mrs. Kirchner. That is indeed a rather surprising statement. It is interesting to notice however how the human mind, occupied with stereotypes and classifications, processes such a statement. Having lived in Argentina, my first reaction was: Please don't. That is because I first thought about how her wish would translate to the admirable Argentinian way of life. Reading on i realized that Mrs. Kirchner was referring to Germany's export dominance. Germany is still the biggest exporter in the world. Even in nominal terms it exports more than China, although this may change soon. It is still surprising though that Mrs. Kirchner chose Germany as a model of comparison. She could have also mentioned Mexico for example, a successful exporter with similar cultural characteristics.

But a stereotypical cultural trait of the Argentinians is that they see more cultural similarities with Europeans than with fellow Latinos. To me Argentinians often seem embarrassed of their indigenous heritage, one that I cherish so much (I am aprox. 6% Mexican). When I traveled to Bolivia from Argentina, my Argentinian friends could not believe how I could want to leave their beloved, sophisticated country to travel to medieval and indigenous Bolivia. Martin Varsavsky, in his frequent posts on the Argentinian pride is right to remind Argentinians that Argentina is the only country in the world that went from first world to third world.