La utopía identitaria en Argirópolis de Domingo F. Sarmiento

Abstract

In this article, the author explores the utopian content of Argirópolis (1850) by the Argentinian Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (1811-1888) in which Sarmiento proposes to unite, in the form of a confederation, the onetime Virreinato del Río de la Plata, a territory that today corresponds to Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and part of Bolivia. Such a union would be based on the creation of a general congress, a unified constitution, and the construction of a new capital city in a “neutral” place, which would be named Argirópolis. This study demonstrates how the utopia of Argirópolis, more than a political pamphlet of liberal authorship, synthesized and symbolized the ideal of and longing for a new nation for the Argentinian “desert,” and a new identity for the context of the region of the Río de la Plata.