Tracking Dignified Work and the Dignity of the Worker: Cross-Border Migration and Mobility of Chilean Pentecostals to Argentina (1930-1978)

Abstract

This article analyses the mediating role played by the Pentecostal community in Argentina, which emerged as a cross-border space for migrants, providing a link between Chilean and Argentine society during the period 1930-1978. The methodological approach proposed here is both qualitative and biographical. For this purpose, two research tools were used: in-depth interviews and review of unpublished primary sources, which are characterised by containing oral and written biographical accounts. First, the article addresses the migration of Pentecostals to different parts of Argentina. Second, we focus on the formation of communities and the cross-border mobility of their members. Third, we examine the affinity of values towards work in both the Pentecostal culture and Argentine society. In our analysis, we found that the emergence of Chilean Pentecostal communities in Argentina is linked to the migration phenomenon, with a preference to the southern area of Argentine Patagonia and to spaces of protection of Chilean identity and communion for Chilean migrants. It must be noted that Chilean Pentecostals place special attention on spiritual work, therefore, the valuation of material work becomes for them relational, and is mainly linked to standards of satisfaction as well as personal and social fulfilment.