Abstract
Since the end of the 19th century, both Argentina and Chile have woven Antarctica—the white continent—into the conception of their national territories and identities, establishing a tradition that continues today. To understand the process through which these identities have been constructed, this article examines the strategic communications of the countries involved in the dispute over territories south of 60° south latitude. Early negotiations were incidental and reactive, but as the situation evolved internationally the two South American countries became entangled in their strategies to incorporate portions of Antarctica into their national territories, employing diplomatic interchange, symbolic actions, and the projection of an Antarctic identity by means of public discourse, educational curriculum, and maps. Furthermore, they promoted the idea of an ‘American Antarctica’ as a way of linking Antarctica with the South American continent in an effort to obtain international recognition for their territorial claims. Both countries were successful in instilling a domestic ‘national Antarctic consciousness’, but failed to gather international support. Although their strategic communications regarding Antarctica were successful in terms of the original objective of integrating the idea into their respective national identities, resorting to territoriality seems to have limited their ability to adapt to new conditions, such as those established by the Antarctic Treaty in 1959.
Keywords—strategic communication, strategic communications, Antarctica, Argentina, Chile, territorial claims
About the Author
Ignacio J. Cardone holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of São Paulo and King’s College London. Post-doctoral researcher at the International Relations Research Centre of the University of São Paulo. His research interests focus on: Antarctic history and politics, science diplomacy, climate change and international relations, and political theory.
Bibliography:
Agnew, John A., ‘The Territorial Trap: The Geographical Assumptions of International Relations Theory’, Review of International Political Economy, 1.1 (1994), 53–80.
Aramayo Alzérreca, Carlos, Historia de La Antártida, 2nd edn (Buenos Aires: Editorial Hemisferio, 1949).
Arce, Natalia Gisele, and Tamara Sandra Culleton, ‘El Desafío de Crear Un Puente Bicontinental: Problemas y Perspectivas En La Enseñanza de La Historia Antártica Argentina’, Revista Estudios Hemisféricos y Polares, 9.4 (2018), 19–27.
Beck, Peter J, ‘Preparatory Meetings for the Antarctic Treaty 1958–1959’, Polar Record, 22.141 (1985), 653–64.
Belyea, Barbara, ‘Images of Power: Derrida/Foucault/Harley’, Cartographica: International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization, 29.2 (1992), 1–9.
‘Boletim Geográfico’, Boletim Geográfico, XVII.150 (1959).
Bolt, Nevile, ‘Foreword’, Defence Strategic Communications, 6 (2019), 3–10.
Bove, Giacomo, Expedicion Austral Argentina (Buenos Aires, 1883).
Bugueño, Carolina, and Pablo Mancilla, ‘Una Aproximación a Las Controversias Diplomáticas Entre Chile , Argentina y Gran Bretaña En El Continente Antártico, 1906-1961’, Revista de Historia de América, 136 (2005): 9–20.
Bulkeley, Rip, ‘The Political Origins of the Antarctic Treaty’, Polar Record, 46.01 (2010): 9–11.
Burr, Robert N, By Reason Or Force: Chile and the Balancing of Power in South America, 1830–1905 (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 1974).
Capdevila, Ricardo, and Santiago M. Comerci, Historia Antártica Argentina (Buenos Aires: Dirección Nacional del Antártico, 1986).
Cardone, Ignacio Javier, ‘A Continent for Peace and Science : Antarctic Science and International Politics from the 6th International Geographical Congress to the Antarctic Treaty (1895–1959)’ (Ph. D. dissertation, University of São Paulo – King’s College London, 2019).
81 Cardone, Ignacio Javier and Pablo Gabriel Fontana, ‘Latin-American Contributions to the Creation of the Antarctic Regime’, The Polar Journal, 9.2 (2019): 300-323.
Castro, Terezinha de, Rumo à Antártica (Rio de Janeiro: Freitas Bastos, 1976).
Colacrai, Miryam, Reflexiones en Torno al Régimen Antártico y las Relaciones Argentino- Chilenas, Cuadernos de Política Exterior Argentina (Rosario: Centro de Estudios en Relaciones Internacionales de Rosario (CERIR), 2003).
Cordovez Madariaga, Enrique, La Antártida Sudamericana (Santiago de Chile: Editorial Nascimento, 1945)
Crampton, Jeremy W., ‘Maps as Social Constructions: Power, Communication and Visualization’, Progress in Human Geography, 25.2 (2001): 235–52.
Culleton, Tamara Sandra, ‘Argentina y el Rescate a la Expedición Antártica de Otto Nodenskjöld (1901-1903): Una Mirada desde la Prensa de la Época’, Revista Estudios Hemisféricos y Polares, 6.4 (2015): 1–15.
Day, David, Antarctica: A Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013).
Delgado de Carvalho, Carlos and Terezinha de Castro, ‘A Questão Antártica’, Boletim Geográfico, XIV.135 (1956), 502–06.
Derrida, Jacques, Of Hospitality: Anne Dufourmantelle Invites Jacques Derrida to Respond (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000).
Dodds, Klaus, ‘The Great Game in Antarctica: Britain and the 1959 Antarctic Treaty’, Contemporary British History, 22.1 (2008), 43–66.
Errázuriz Guilisasti, Octavio, and Germán Carrasco Domínguez, Las Relaciones Chileno-Argentinas durante la Presidencia de Riesco, 1901–1906 (Santiago de Chile: Editorial Andres Bello, 1968).
Farwell, James P., Persuasion and Power: The Art of Strategic Communication (Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2012).
Fontana, Pablo, La Pugna Antártica: El Conflicto Por El Sexto Continente (Buenos Aires: Guazuvirá Ediciones, 2014).
______, ‘Between the ice of the Orkney Islands: filming the beginnings of the Antarctic overwintering tradition’, The Polar Journal 9.2 (2019), 340–57.
García, Amelia Beatriz, ‘Textos Escolares: Las Malvinas y la Antártida para la “Nueva Argentina ” de Perón’, Antítesis, 2.4 (2009), 1033–58.
García Pérez, Juan, ‘Conflictos Territoriales y Luchas Fronterizas en América Latina durante los Siglos XIX y XX.’, Norba. Revista de Historia, 18 (2005), 215– 41.
Genest, Eugenio A, Antártida Sudamericana: aportes para su comprensión (Buenos Aires: Dirección Nacional del Antártico – Instituto Antártico Argentino, 2001).
Giddens, Anthony, The Constitution of Society (Polity, 1984).
______, The Nation-State and Violence: Volume Two of a Contemporary Critique of Historical Materialism (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1989).
Hall, H. Robert, ‘Casey and the Negotiation of the Antarctic Treaty’, in J. Jabour- Green and M. Haward (eds), The Antarctic: Past, Present and Future – Proceedings of a Conference Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Entry into Force of the Antarctic Treaty on 23rd June 1961, (2002): 27–33.
______, ‘International Regime Formation and Leadership: The Origins of the Antarctic Treaty’ (University of Tasmania, 1994)
Harley, J. B., ‘Cartography, Ethics and Social Theory’, Cartographica: The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization, 27.2 (1990), 1–23.
______, ‘Deconstructing the Map’, Cartographica: The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization, 26.2 (1989), 1–20.
______, Historical Geography and the Cartographic Illusion, Journal of Historical Geography, 1989, xv.
______, ‘Silences and Secrecy: The Hidden Agenda of Cartography in Early Modern Europe’, Imago Mundi, 40.1 (1988): 57–76
Hart, Ian B., Pesca: The History of Compañía Argentina de Pesca Sociedad Anónima of Buenos Aires (Aidan Ellis Publishing, 2001).
Polar Record, (2012, 2016), 1–13.
Holtzhausen, Derina, and Ansgar Zerfass, ‘Strategic Communication Opportunities and Challenges of the Research Area’, in Derina Holtzhausen and Zerfass Ansgar (eds), The Routledge Handbook of Strategic Communication, (New York & London: Routledge, 2017), 3–17.
Howkins, Adrian, ‘A Formal End to Informal Imperialism: Environmental Nationalism, Sovereignty Disputes, and the Decline of British Interests in Argentina, 1933-1955’, British Scholar, III.2 (2010), 235–62.
______, ‘Frozen Empires: A History of the Antarctic Sovereignty Dispute between Britain, Argentina, and Chile, 1939--1959’ (The University of Texas at Austin, 2008).
______, ‘Icy Relations: The Emergence of South American Antarctica during the Second World War’, Polar Record, 42.2 (2006), 153–65.
______, ‘Reluctant Collaborators: Argentina and Chile in Antarctica during the International Geophysical Year, 1957-58’, Journal of Historical Geography, 34. 4 (2008), 596–617.
Huneeus, Antonio, Antártida (Santiago de Chile: Imprenta Chile, 1948).
Jara Fernández, Mauricio, ‘Enrique Cordovez Madariaga y su Visión de la Antártida Sudamericana a Mediados de la Década de 1940’, Revista de Historia, 11–12 (2002), 23–26
Maisch, Christian J. ‘The Falkland/Malvinas Islands Clash of 1831–32: US and British Diplomacy in the South Atlantic’, Diplomatic History, 24.2 (2000), 185– 209.
Mirow, Matthew C. ‘International Law and Religion in Latin America: The Beagle Channel Dispute’, Suffolk Transnational Law Review, 28.1 (2004), 1–29.
Musto, Ryan A., ‘Cold Calculations: The United States and the Creation of Antarctica’s Atom-Free Zone’, Diplomatic History, 00.0 (2017).
Nordenskjöld, Otto, ‘The New Era in South-Polar Exploration’, The North American Review, 183.601 (1906), 758–70.
Peterson, M. J., Managing the Frozen South: The Creation and Evolution of the Antarctic Treaty System (University of California Press, 1988).
Pinochet de la Barra, Oscar, ‘Chile y Argentina en la Antártida: Algunas Reflexiones’, Boletín Antártico Chileno, 20.1 (2001), 2–6.
Rinaldi, Carlos A, ‘Desarrollo Científico Argentino en la Antártida’, Boletín Del Centro Naval, 836 (2013): 147–56.
Riso Patrón, Luis, ‘La Antártida Americana’, Anales de la Universidad de Chile, 122 (1908), 243–65.
Rudmose-Brown, Robert Neal, R. C. Mossman, and J. H. Harvey Pirie, The Voyage of the ‘Scotia’: Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration in Antarctic Seas (William Blackwood and Sons, 1906).
Sack, Robert D, ‘Human Territoriality: A Theory’, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 73.1 (1983), 55–74.
Saul, Ben, and Tim Stephens (eds), Antarctica in International Law (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2015).
Scott, Shirley V., ‘Three Waves of Antarctic Imperialism’, in Klaus Dodds, Alan D. Hemmings, and Peder Roberts (eds), Handbook on the Politics of Antarctica, (Cheltenham - Northampton: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017), 37–49.
Seguí, Francisco, ‘Las Regiones Polares’, Boletín Del Instituto Geográfico Argentino, XVIII (1897), 1–32.
Swinney, Geoffrey N., ‘Some New Perspectives on the Life of William Spiers Bruce (1867–1921), with a preliminary catalogue of the Bruce collection of manuscripts in the University of Edinburgh’, Archives of Natural History, 28.3 (2001): 285–311.
______, ‘The Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (1902–04) and the Founding of Base Orcadas’, Scottish Geographical Journal 123.1 (2007): 48–67.
Thies, Cameron G., ‘International Interactions Territorial Nationalism in Spatial Rivalries: An Institutionalist Account of the Argentine-Chilean Rivalry’, International Interactions, 27.4 (2001): 399–431.
85 Toro Álvarez, Carlos de, ‘Vinculación Histórica del Territorio Continental y la Antártica’, in Política Antártica de Chile (Santiago de Chile: Editorial Universitaria – Instituto de Estudios Internacionales de la Universidad de Chile, 1984), 51–65.
Wöppke, Consuelo León, and Mauricio Jara Fernández (eds), El Piloto Luis Pardo Villalón: Visiones Desde La Prensa, 1916 (Santiago de Chile: LW Editorial, 2015).
Archival references:
Gorst to Hartford, 31 March 1906. Argentine Files 279–11449 (1906): FO371/4. The National Archives, London, UK.
Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1914–15: ADM 1/8368/29. The National Archives, London, UK.
Winston to Clementine, 28 March 1916. Sir Winston Churchill’s Letters to Lady Churchill. The Papers of Clementine Ogilvy Spencer-Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill of Chartwell: CSCT 2/9. Churchill Archives Centre. Cambridge, UK.
Lambert to the Under Secretary of State of the Foreign Office, 5 December 1919. Antarctic: Question of British Rights in the Antarctic now under consideration: ADM1/8565/226. The National Archives, London, UK.
Territorial Claims in the Antarctic Regions – Compiled in the Hydrographic Department of the Admiralty, 1919. Antarctic: Question of British Rights in the Antarctic now under consideration: ADM1/8565/226. The National Archives, London, UK.
Argentine Claims, Territorial Claims in the Antarctic, 1 May 1945. Territorial Claims in the Antarctic by Research Department, Foreign Office, 1 May 1945: A4311/365/8. National Archives of Australia, Canberra, Australia.
Imperial Conference, 1926. Arctic and Antarctic Regions: 1925–27: ADM116/2494. The National Archives, London, UK.
Lowes to Bart, 20 March 2014. No. 46. Falklands 1914, Public and Misc. Offices: CO78/132. The National Archives, London, UK.
Argentine Decree N° 61,852.M.97. Enclosure to Cranbourne to the Prime Minister of Australia, 15 October 1940. Antarctic Argentine: A981/ANT45. National Archives of Australia, Canberra, Australia.
Expediente N° 45 – División Antártida y Malvinas – Antecedentes sobre la Comisión Nacional del Antártico: AH/0009/21. Archivo Histórico de la Cancillería, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Informe General – Comisión Nacional del Antártico, May 1940. Exp. N° 13: Derechos Argentinos: Informe General Presentado por la Comisión Nacional del Antártico: AH/0003/12. Archivo Histórico de la Cancillería. Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Translation to Enclosure to Buenos Aires dispatch N°. 251,13 September 1940, Antarctic Argentine: A981/ANT45. National Archives of Australia, Canberra, Australia.
Bianchi to Minister of National Defence, 11 December 1940. Ministerio de Defensa – Oficios Confidenciales, 1940: Fondo Histórico/Vol. 1875, Archivo General Histórico, Santiago de Chile, Chile.
Felipe A Espil, [Argentine Ambassadour in Washington] to Dr. Julio Argentino Roca (Hijo) [Minister of Foreign Affairs], 9 November 1940. Expediente Nº 14: Soberanía en Tierras Antárticas — Pretensiones Chilenas, 1940: AH/0003/2. Archivo Histórico de la Cancillería, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
History and Current Status of Claims in Antarctica, March 1948, p. 23. US Antarctic Projects Officer — Records Relating to Antarctic Claims 1929–1957. Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defence: RG 330. National Archives and Record Administration, Maryland, USA
Memorándum Confidencial, 12 January 1940. Expediente n°11 – Memorándum Confidencial de la Embajada de Estados Unidos de América sobre la Expedición de Byrd a la Antártida: AH/0003/10. Archivo Histórico de la Cancillería. Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Bianchi to Chilean Ambassador in Washington, 19 December 1940. Embajada de Chile en EE.UU – Oficios Confidenciales, 1940: Fondo Histórico/Vol. 1823, Archivo General Histórico, Santiago de Chile, Chile.
87 Comisión Nacional del Antártico – Informe General – Mayo 1940. Expediente N° 13: Soberanía em Tierras Antárticas – Derechos Argentinos – Informe Gral. Presentado a la Comisión Nacional del Antártico: AH/0003/12. AHC, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Copias de las Actas Firmadas en Santiago de Chile, 4 June 1941. Expediente Nº 16: Viaje a Chile del Consejero Legal del Ministerio y Presidente de la Comisión Nacional del Antártico: AH/0003/4. Archivo Histórico de la Cancillería, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Informe del Delegado Argentino Dr. Isidoro Ruiz Moreno sobre las conversaciones realizadas em Santiago de Chile, 2 April 1941. Expediente Nº 16: Viaje a Chile del Consejero Legal del Ministerio y Presidente de la Comisión Nacional del Antártico: AH/0003/4, Archivo Histórico de la Cancillería, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Dictamen de los Miembros Técnicos, 7 May 1941. Expediente Nº 16: Viaje a Chile del Consejero Legal del Ministerio y Presidente de la Comisión Nacional del Antártico: AH/0003/4, Archivo Histórico de la Cancillería, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Enclosed Report presented by Captain (E) Enrique Cordovez in Naval Attaché to Director of Naval Intelligence, 23 August 1943. Falkland Island Dependencies in the Antarctic: British expedition, Argentine encroachment and claim to sovereignty. territorial claims in the Antarctic, 1943–44: ADM116/4931, The National Archives, London, UK.
Territorial Claims in the Antarctic by Research Department, Foreign Office, 1 May 1945: A4311/365/8, National Archives of Australia, Canberra, Australia.
Reunidos en la ciudad de... Undated, Chilean Proposals for the Internationalisation of the Antarctic [Folder 3475] South America, 1949, General: FO371/74757, The National Archives, London, UK.
Allen to Arg. Foreign Minister, 3 February 1952 [A 15211/22 Enclosure]; Mack to Eden, 9 February 1952 [A 15211/23]; Remorino to Mack, 27 February 1952 [A 15211/28]; Mack to Eden, 3 May 1952 [ A 15211/31]; and Mack to Eden, 13 May 1952 [A 15211/32]. 18304 – Further Correspondence respecting Antarctica – Part 4 – January 1951, to December 1952: FO 463/4, The National Archives, London, UK.
Rossetti to Minister of Foreign Affairs, Conferencia Antártica de Paris [Nº 928/38], 20 July 1955, 1955–1958 – Conferencias Antárticas. AGI: Archivo General Histórico, Fondo Antártica/Vol. 28, Archivo General Histórico, Santiago de Chile, Chile.
Program Records 1959–1959, Conference on Antarctica (Washington DC, 1959). International Conferences, Commissions and Expositions: RG 0043, National Archives and Records Administration, Maryland, USA.
Maps:
Mapa de la República Argentina. Archivo del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Culto de Argentina (AMREC); sección “Dirección de Antártida y Malvinas”; Caja n° AH/0003; Carpeta N° 15.
Antártida Chilena proyección ortográfica / [material cartográfico]: República de Chile, Instituto Geográfico Militar. [Chile: El Instituto], 1945. 1 mapa col.; 56 x 44 cm., sobre pliego de 65 x 50 cm. BND id 350485. Available in: http://www. bibliotecanacionaldigital.gob.cl/bnd/631/w3-article-350485.html
