Under the title “Dreams of a Promised Land: Malvinas as Argentina, Argentina as Malvinas” Professor David M. K. Sheinin* offered a series of lectures in Israel during the months of May and June at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, at the Tel Aviv University and at the Haifa University.

For almost 200 years, Argentines have rejected the British occupation of the Malvinas, South Georgia and South Sandwich and claimed the recovery of the full exercise of sovereignty over that part of their national territory.  Why?  What is it about the islands, their history, and their place in the popular imagination that makes them vital for Argentines?

In the 1870s, José Hernández wrote what many consider the greatest work of Argentine literature, Martín Fierro. In 1869, Hernández wrote of his travels to Malvinas. He expressed enthusiasm for the Argentine territory under foreign occupation and what those islands represented to a resurgent, new, modern Argentina.

Taking Hernández as a starting point, through film, literature, history and politics, Professor Sheinin examined the place of Malvinas in the popular imagination, and the best of what Argentina can and could be.

 

*David M. K. Sheinin is Professor of History at Trent University (Canada). He is an active member of the Solidarity Group with the Malvinas Question in Canada, lecturing, organizing and participating in events related to the Question of the Malvinas.

In 2005, David was appointed a member of the Argentine National Academy of History (the first and only Canadian ever designated).  In 2011 he was named "Amigo de Eloisa" by Eloisa Cartonera.  His books and articles include two recent, short books on boxing and Argentine society, “El boxeador poeta” [The Boxer Poet] (Eloisa Cartonera, 2010) and “El boxeador incrédulo” [The Incredulous Boxer] (Eloisa Cartonera, 2011).