Family Photos, Oral Narratives, and Identity Formation

In the 1920s, several hundred immigrants arrived in Argentina from the Car-pathian Mountains, the steppes of Ukraine, and the villages of Poland. Many of them established themselves in Berisso, an industrial suburb of La Plata in the province of Buenos Aires, where they became industrial workers in the Swift and Armour meatpacking houses. In Berisso they set up their representative organizations and molded their identities. Julian Zabiuk was one of those immigrants. He arrived in Berisso from Solone (Zalizchyky, a village near Lviv in Eastern Galicia), worked in the packinghouses, and lived in the community until his death.1 Julian Zabiuk’s passage through history only held meaning for his family and friends. However, Julian did place his family photos into two albums, which his son Bogdan preserved. These photos found Julian a place in history when we, two historians interested in Berisso’s past, came across their story. Julian’s transformation into the subject of history, however, depended on our finding meaning in these images and the narratives that we had collected in Berisso. The albums challenged us to discern how those without professional training in historical interpretation may have used them.We will analyze the web formed by oral narratives and photographic images in the formation of Ukrainian identity in Berisso. This process was not a single or homogeneous movement. On the contrary, it emerged from conflicting memories and competing narratives reflected in certain strands of collective memory—immigrant workers in the packinghouses, the harmonious world of labor under Perón, the peaceful coexistence of different nationalities, religions, and political philosophies. Such elements were transmitted not only through the spoken word but also through objects such as photos, letters, and monuments, and events such as ceremonies, theater, and fiestas.This essay centers on the family photos of Julian Zabiuk, which speak to a history of family uprooting and reconstitution and demonstrate the tensions surrounding the construction of Ukrainian identity in Argentina. The meaning of these photos varies with our analytical perspective. If the analytic lens closes in, we can see Julian Zabiuk’s own history—at least partially—within the wider picture, through family photos from Ukraine and the diaspora. When we pan out the analytic lens, the history of the ethnic community appears. By thus adjusting the focus, the meanings of Julian Zabiuk’s personal and ethnic history take on a density that runs parallel to our own apprenticeship in reading the clues contained in these stories and images.In 1987 Juan Ciuper sat in his house and spoke slowly of his experience as an immigrant laborer. Only much later did many of his observations about Ukrainians acquire significance for us. These narrative passages were like the “minuscule singularities” of which Carlo Ginzburg speaks, which were slowly transformed for us into trails, traces, and signs of the cultural relationships and transformations of the Ukrainians of Berisso.2Let us look at some of the symptomatic fragments of this narrative:Poles, Ukrainians, and Russians appear in this narrative as positionings, as expressions of a dispersed and fragmented human experience related to both the process of nation building in Europe and to transatlantic movements of population. These positionings were changing. Ciuper’s great-grandfather was German, but he became a Ukrainian. Some were Ukrainians but identified themselves as Russians; others could be considered Poles. Ciuper’s words, when treated as evidence, can lead in several directions. These paths raise the issue of the need to analyze the complex relationships between memory and national/ethnic identity.“Identity” refers to a cultural process that seeks to give coherence—both imaginary and real—to the experience of diaspora (family and national). The shifting identities Juan Ciuper cites were shared by hundreds of Ukrainians who arrived in Berisso in the interwar period. Julian Zabiuk, like Ciuper, arrived in Argentina from Ukraine, but Julian left us no oral testimony, and his experiences of migration and identity formation are accessible only through his album and in the memories of his son.Immigrants’ identities form through a complex combination of experiences that include what they were and what they were becoming. As Stuart Hall suggests, cultural identity is not something that ever really exists in a preformed state, transcending time, place, and history. Rather, it is always in a process of constant transformation.4 Identity is not something fixed in the past, awaiting discovery; nor is it a crystallized essence waiting to be uncovered. On the contrary, it is subject to the movements of history, culture, and power. However, Hall also points out that cultural identity is not merely a question of whim and imagination, since all identities have their histories, and histories have real effects, both material and symbolic. In addition, they are always constructed through memory, fantasy, narrative, and myth. Cultural identity is an unstable point of identification constructed through speech, acts, and artifacts. It bears repeating: an identity is not an essence, but a positioning.The notion of cultural identity as an unstable point of identification invokes Fredrik Barth’s concept of the ethnic group.5 Barth’s notion of ethnic differentiation has been used in some studies of Argentine immigration.6 However, the perception of “the different” is only one part of Barth’s analysis, and this one concept does not take into account the complexity and conflicts involved in the construction of that ethnicity. For Barth, the institutional (traditionally emphasized in studies of immigrant communities) and the subjective are intimately related, and both take part in the process of defining ethnic boundaries. This, in turn, is closely linked with changes occurring inside and outside the group. Barth argues that the traces chosen by people as cultural markers serve to define them as an ethnic group; these choices depend on a sociocultural system that is not predictable. Moreover, cultural identity is, for Barth, constituted in and through conflict, and the boundaries that define identities are spaces of antagonism. This understanding of identity construction also changes how we conceptualize the political, since we can no longer imagine it as residing solely in specific institutions.7Ciuper’s account found parallels in other Berisso narratives, as well as in the cultural artifacts that These were both in, and at the in the narrative of the harmonious This in the This at a immigrant and without or like that of Julian’s son and other with narratives such as the are a of These meaning to events from Berisso’s in the packinghouses, the community of the and This of has a point of the of the Armour in from Juan Ciuper’s narrative us with of the conflicts the immigrants of Berisso on These are not from their or political were not in the experience of Ukrainian the of representative or the political in can they be in some of that the that of the The of our in the and in the The were not to some of or Juan Ciuper could be to be as the of a when he was did they to were did the were the of the As we considered these it did not to us that we were a for an on ethnic identity and The narrative was us into a conflict, and we the other that us to the subjective of this Moreover, as such a had no place in our cultural nor as part of our of narrative us to with traces “minuscule of a complex that other of to the cultural transformations by the Ukrainians of of Julian Zabiuk’s experience not through oral narratives but through the two family albums he constructed in to his the uprooting and of his family and the wider Ukrainian we a of what has been and the process of reconstitution in the the albums to different a we can that exists a narrative and or and the of and This is of for Julian Zabiuk, since in some it is the history of in Zabiuk a to the and of his experience the of the nation and but the of a family album is This is however, the only he the that he also does this a an process of his by of The of the by to to of the of in oral The Julian to and those that left the traces in his and the time, the of Julian’s album as an historical the albums us both to Julian’s personal and to the world from which he an of for If we the professional who many of these photos, we could also analyze the images as of in the or as of what other have the or from notion of the a can speak of a of of of family of and of of However, we could also and to to the the that and that in the a different The the It is and us that the was the is, on a It is with what the for one and not for others it may be one of us look at an of what we by this When we the albums, one our It was of a of our were to the that was under his It to us that the the between two the and homogeneous on the one on the other markers of immigrant identity his for a that to to the This at of as the photos of other in our The only in the which with the that up these other we our when with this with the stories us by a Ukrainian in Berisso about of in village at some in the this the of the of the by the people of the the of this that the that in the that a certain historians is about the that under The history of these can be into and the and the political as the and of and the the of the in an the least for and the of who were to the of the and who appear in the of an it is a from on this was by a This was in the of the and for this are between and The is by which was not and also by that had not been until this The of the had been the by that these photos a between and the the and experience that they also to the of the photographic lens, we can that the into elements with ethnic of Ukrainian and identity that be in the or Argentina. on the other we with the lens, of family and tensions In to the from the fragments of it is to have of the and to other This can the into what we a at the of the the albums, we a combination of professional photos and that but the to and in a These can be with the the of time, fragments to photos are not the only artifacts that we in these also Zabiuk to of the history he to for us. in the as with However, the from the they were in when was By the for had by changes that the of the Many immigrant organizations the of as part of their cultural and they them to raise which were by also to a of and and can see the they in the from Julian’s The of the Ukrainian by that the of some of Ukraine, is a The of a of the by and as well as those under as a of the and The is in a that has both and It is also a of that we to is the with the of as an a material For Zabiuk, the meanings that have no in and that are linked to the in Berisso in the interwar has been for of elements of as the of to was the of Argentine the photos of of Julian Zabiuk’s were by these It is that by the is certain that these an in the narrative of Julian This narrative is since it is constructed as a In to photos and Julian and one of The of the by the in The formation of his an of the Julian to an Argentine into his of Ukrainian constructed his albums as a family and However, not all the artifacts are constructed in the are also of Julian these photos in a without or The the it on the is the of the historical that photos, such as those in Julian Zabiuk’s albums, their their as historical has been the subject of The notion that a can up the in is as a form of Stuart Hall up this when he that the photographic may be to is by which the of all photographic of the of photos as historical in the issue of their narrative an like who has the issue of photos and narrative the a that is in a The of a and of a from the of This the narrative of the For is a of the world that but which on a this the the in the or wider argues that of an that no of can has for the narrative In of he that certain photos may through their of an that with the experience and other by of in the of has the of and in a of or to to and political memory it as a for This of is what it with the of memory and is what to for the need to a for through other photos or through words, which can to photographic images a and the narrative of family photos a In the photos are without albums have an to a narrative oral and narratives to shared photos the community is not and the for the who does not have some personal of the the photos in family albums the to of narrative power. It is no that he the notion of the through an of the photos of one of the of the we that family albums a narrative the photos may in something has by them in an The established between the photos it to a story. and an process of historical have been used to a story. this narrative a complex and point to a in the but at the time, they for the of the fragments of dispersed with a of the reading process in this is linked to the and thus the of the since we from one to the other to as in the theater, with as a is that changes the of those can that acquire meaning when we can them a of signs where the and the appear The the will be and the narrative will be by and of that which is or be spoken or The the and is, however, to The of images in Julian’s album both a family and a narrative of ethnic identity that is and we a the reading of the narrative the of photos other photos, is the of the the This from to outside that for the of the and the to the the photographic and of the between albums and can serve as both and of a to the which to them in this with Julian’s what of was the of the memory he and in these have to imagine the when the sat to his memory and his of this was by an that of was to the of and for what that that we it had and that the one who to a at the of a to the with imagine Julian Zabiuk as memory the of past, and he to some and out of the and of the This is, of but we the of several The fragments of the that Julian Zabiuk their meaning only at the he meaning as part of an process of memory in such a that images with no is no that this of memory images by certain argues that the meaning to the that it a in the This that the meaning of a memory can only be in the that the that it that is, in the If this process does not take place, memory is to be these albums raise the issue of memory, they also the of only does an album what is to be the process of also of or us of the of of and and as for in the This labor to the of and the of also to us of the of By and into question our to In to the of the that could be with the of as a of of the notion of the on the Julian Zabiuk can his album and us his in words, he can and Only when he can his immigrant past, with uprooting and can the fragments of his acquire Only when he a does he the memory, and that the community have that when Julian Zabiuk his memory he was at these images from the was not a he may have also a of a This does not a but an and of images that will to his personal experience a of and Ukrainian By on this Julian us to the of his memory and to and his history. If we the of memory, the images can only have meaning for Julian in a we can to the meaning of his of a album the with the past, the by the photographic The is also a of the by the with migration and the that the is for and that will in the argues that we can albums with other and those with us to and the of what we but also that Julian’s album with a of is Juan a immigrant to Berisso, left a of in his memory he did not and and did not into a The in which he left the photos is symptomatic of the photos did not through “the of lived that have meaning on these fragments of the photos can only be part of a they can only us something and that a to this are material artifacts that not only a memory but also as objects to the memory and identity of a This is for the photos cultural to and a and of the of photos as historical artifacts is their to other artifacts that photos into a through which people can have to a photos a of artifacts that were nor to many In this the of photos was into the of images that both and ethnic have a to this of the of a identification with the images in the When Julian at the photos of his in their an identification was He photos for their and the that they have to that which is both people and markers of Ukrainian This identity no specific of the of Ukrainian both and was a in the construction of the that in a community like Berisso the Ukrainian had to out by the other emerged to an system through were one for of the place, the albums of the history of and of the Zabiuk family and the Ukrainian The two albums with images that can be into a the village in Ukraine and the album the diaspora in all as to the that the family on the photos of Berisso, and This for what has been at the that it the reconstitution of the also see events in the and see the of in the by the part of the Zabiuk family who to and the of in the of the in the a of what we the of narrative who have family albums that they the of family the Julian the of the photos of his son and his friends. is Julian this the that the from a of in the of these images of and the of his both albums, Ukrainian the and family history. is a certain between a narrative of into Argentina and the of Ukrainian does one at the of the In one from Ukraine give to Ukrainian of Ukraine and the as a of and the building of one of the Ukrainian cultural centers in Berisso, and the Argentine linked to the in the of these are in with the family photos and those of other Ukrainian identity is in Julian’s of photos that two of identified with his of and and the ethnic building and Julian to the which he and in which his his Ciuper’s oral and Julian Zabiuk’s albums both raise the issue of the formation of Ukrainian was this identity constructed the of experience in a community such as which immigrants from different of were an this in the of a process of differentiation between the immigrant that in the This differentiation Barth’s of two at in the immigrant and differentiation and a of ethnic Ukrainian was in The of the Cultural was an that on from Ukrainian and political near the packinghouses, on between and The had a for by immigrants. from Eastern Europe were with and to Russians and as a of differentiation was also immigrant such as the who arrived in the province of at the of the to when the of the of the of place, the Buenos La to this as a of the was no of Ukrainians, or other The of between Eastern and Ukrainians, who were to as Russians or Berisso, differentiation with the formation of a which later to The to to Ukrainian culture, history, and in other that contained Ukrainian such as the and it has been that the of the Ukrainian is a of the diaspora. The of from to place when the that an of the but with in the some of the in Berisso had from the they had no in such Moreover, the of for Ukrainian a complex subject for those in the in in the of the had to a of between and that was in the It an that reading and in Ukrainian. As it an in the formation of an ethnic Ukrainian to Ukrainian identity to and the of this this those by the movement. This had in the of from which of Berisso’s Ukrainians the and later or those who with the In addition, when the was the process of with and these one with the that up the The in the of one like a building in which different and and had and the the and many immigrants arrived in Berisso from the These the Ukrainian community into of the cultural and those who with the Juan Ciuper’s was a was for this to and for they but out cultural events the as did they to this was not merely a Ukrainian in the the tensions with the and became The of workers was in the from Some of those were Ukrainians ethnic identity was constructed boundaries that those out the Moreover, had emerged in an to which Julian Zabiuk and with which the of Ukrainian the interwar Berisso’s Ukrainians to their The the that ethnic boundaries and that they are and as part of a process of and outside the ethnic group. These changes of and and they can later other of such as and the we these tensions had under the of a narrative of by both Ukrainians and workers of other When with the complexity and density of the competing memories of however, the and objects that this to give In Berisso’s of the narratives to a harmonious community of However, memories of the and political the 1920s, was in with the in the it came into with the The as a for in the also on the of in the The between the two was at a of from Ukrainian held in Buenos on which with the the boundaries of Ukrainian one could be Ukrainian only one were not a time, however, these political elements their as ethnic In the when the labor was was and the of the ethnic was the to be and the of coexistence to take time, the spoken also to as a as those who spoke it This had an on and the word came to be considered only as a to the and to a When and the political, of identity to elements power. The of ethnic identity does not depend on the of all cultural are and the process of and in identity formation is The of Ukrainians used their of spoken and to in with other of the a of their The and all the as markers of their are those elements that a community with related to the experience of the group. such as and a that with and memory for an identity that is in of for is a of ethnic identity it is and is with and the could that such of Ukrainian identity are memory which Berisso’s Ukrainian community to with a to In this the experiences and identities of different of of the were the of the past, of Ukrainian to and the immigrant the In they to Ukrainian and tensions are and the of a a to the community The of ethnic in the with of and theater, a of that a part of memory and ethnic that one of the of Julian Zabiuk’s albums is to both and a a that is, in words, and history which the to own of and we can and The of the photos with elements such as and them into that can the narrative of the time, the albums are constructed as a of narrative the dispersed elements of the family in the Ukraine, and with the of It also the family by the he had left in In the Julian Zabiuk and into this by the of a to a family of and into the Moreover, he elements of Ukrainian identity and the of with images of the formation of in we are at the of the the and the These photos the and the and in this we their to of In the and appear to be The world is by and the word and identities in the of the of in this we could that Ukrainian was the of the Julian Zabiuk was a who constructed his ethnic identity at the of these and the at his transformed into historical and Zabiuk’s experience and memory only acquire meaning when they a we a and what the between the personal of memory and the of memory experience our memories as our The of Julian Zabiuk’s photos that these photos elements of personal Stuart Hall has that photos are by the traces that history has left These traces are an least one that is the of the The can this the elements at from outside of the this have may well be meanings that are the of the of not photos in these albums Julian Zabiuk as he his memory in that we will were photos in that that a from the have their identity but not their Julian Zabiuk was to take the of these as was to with the one that for his like this his

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