Landscapes of Devils: Tensions of Place and Memory in the Argentinean Chaco

Gastón R. Gordillo

Published by Duke University Press 2004

Landscapes of Devils

Tensions of Place and Memory in the Argentinean Chaco

Gastón R. Gordillo

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780822386025

Overview
Contents

About this book

Examines the inscription of historical forces in the senses of place of the Tobas, an indigenous people of the Argentinean Chaco region whose recent history has been torn between exploitation in sugar plantations and relative autonomy in the bush.

Author / Editor information

Gastón R. Gordillo is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He is coauthor of El río y la frontera: movilizaciones aborígenes, obras públicas y mercosur en el Pilcomayo.

Reviews

“Gastón R. Gordillo has written a superb book about the complex, contradictory world of the Toba of the Argentinean Chaco. Especially memorable is the manner in which he demonstrates the contextual, shifting nature of the meaning of the various places and spaces, activities and imaginings, figures and fetishes that have made up the Toba world ever since the time of the ‘ancient ones.’ He unravels the historical experiences and the memories that configure everyday practices in a world beset by devils—and by some of the less enviable effects of an especially avaricious capitalist economy on its contract laborers. While it is situated in a remote part of South America, this is a work of global importance in both its historical and its theoretical reach.”—John Comaroff, University of Chicago

“Gordillo’s analysis is nuanced and engagingly written. The strength of this book lies in its deep, ethnographically grounded, and historically situated research, as well as in its emphasis on the ambiguities, tensions, and social contradictions that construct memory and place.”

-- Silvia Hirsch American Anthropologist

“The author’s methodology—based on extensive data collection, almost twenty years of sincere relationship with the people in the field, solid archival research, and rigorous use of negative dialectic—has produced a unique ethnography of the tensions of places and memories that could inspire similar type of work among other indigenous peoples.”

-- Marcela Mendoza Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

“This book is at once a superb ethnography and a challenging theoretical reflection on the agency of indigenous people faced with profound economic and political change.”

-- Arnd Schneider Latin American Studies

"[I]mpressive. . . . [T]he author's approach (data collection sustained by a long-term sincere relationship with the people in the field, solid archival research, and rigorous use of negative dialectic) have produced a unique ethnography of tensions of places and memories."

-- Marcela Mendoza American Ethnologist

"History, geography, sociology and anthropology come together in this gripping, if depressing, account of the destruction of a people's independence and of their environment. The book throws light on events in a part of the world not so well known as they might be and that should be of wider interest."

-- David Bridgeman-Sutton International Journal of Environmental Studies

"This is a welcome, fresh perspective that emerges from traditional ethnographic research methods. Highly recommended. All levels/libraries."

-- D. B. Heath Choice

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
List of Illustrations Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xv
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1 The Making of the Bush
1 Landmarks of Memory Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
2 Heaven and Hell Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	40
3 Places of Violence Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	53
4 Searching for Our Fathers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	70
5 A Kind of Sanctuary Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	78
6 ‘‘In the Bush, You Can Do Anything’’ Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	88
II Bones in the Cane Fields
7 The Promised Land Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	103
8 ‘‘It Seemed Like We Lived There’’ Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	109
9 The Breath of the Devils Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	123
10 ‘‘We Returned Rich’’ Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	139
11 ‘‘Dancing, Dancing, Dancing’’ Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	149
12 ‘‘We Didn’t Go on Strike’’ Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	158
III Foraging Until the End of the World
13 ‘‘We’re Not Going to Die’’ Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	169
14 The Production of Local Knowledge Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	183
15 ‘‘With the Fish,We’re Rich’’ Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	198
16 Journeys to Strange Lands Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	209
17 Locations of Contention and Hegemony Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	223
18 The Other Side Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
Conclusions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	253
Glossary Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	261
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	265
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	281
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	297

Language: English
Publisher: Duke University Press
Pages
- Main content: 328
Illustrations
- Other: 60 b&w photos, 6 maps

eBook

Published: December 6, 2004
ISBN: 9780822386025