Inmigración y memoria social en Berisso (Argentina) Un análisis de los lugares de memoria, las prácticas conmemorativas y los objetos ligados a la inmigración ultramarina

The article analyzes —at a local level— the process of spatialization, materialization and transmission of one of the core ideas that shape the official memory of Argentina: overseas immigrants' arrival during the period between 19th and 20th centuries and the role played by those actors in the population configuration of a harmonious crisol de razas . Based on the description of three sites of memory located in the city of Berisso, the commemorative practices developed  and the material objects vested with memorial senses exhibited, we show the capacity that different civil society actors (local ethnic associations) and the State (the municipality) have had to establish the overseas immigrants as mythical figures of the local/national memory: heroes, pioneers and founding fathers of the community. Not only does this process relegate other actors present in the history of the city/nation (bordering immigrants, internal migrants) to a marginal place but it also silences/forgets any sign of conflict that could have occurred during the integration process of overseas immigrants with the society from Berisso/Argentina. Thus, based on the material elaborated during extensive qualitative fieldwork, the article shows that the legitimized figure in the sites of memory, in the commemorative practices and the analyzed objects is not any immigrant's figure, but that of the overseas immigrant, successfully integrated with the native culture and respectful of local institutions.