faradeista

Faradeista is a term that refers to a follower or adherent of the political and social ideas of Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, a prominent Argentine educator, writer, and statesman. Sarmiento, who served as President of Argentina from 1868 to 1874, championed policies focused on education, immigration, and modernization as essential for the progress and civilization of the nation. His intellectual project aimed to integrate Argentina into the Western world, contrasting what he saw as the barbarism of the interior with the progress and order of the European-influenced cities.

A faradeista would typically embrace Sarmiento's emphasis on public education as a transformative force, believing in its capacity to foster citizenship and overcome social divides. They would likely support policies that encouraged European immigration, seeing it as a means to populate the vast territories, introduce new skills, and promote a more "civilized" society. The faradeista ideal often involved a strong belief in the state's role in actively shaping national identity and development, often through infrastructure projects and the establishment of institutions.

While Sarmiento's ideas were influential in shaping Argentine nationhood, the term "faradeista" can also carry connotations of elitism or a perceived disdain for certain aspects of Argentine culture that were not European-inspired. Nonetheless, the core tenets of faradeismo revolve around a belief in education, progress through external influence, and a strong, modernizing state.