Indians, communists and guerrillas: fears and memories of land struggles in the Andean highlands of Jujuy, Argentina

GUILLERMINA ESPOSITO Y LUDMILA DA SILVA CATELA

Anthropos

Anthropos Institut

Lugar: Sankt Augustin; Año: 2020 vol. 115 p. 469 - 481

0257-9774

In this paper we address the ways in which since the end of the XIX century, land struggles in the Andean province of Jujuy, Argentina, were interpreted in terms of a communist threat. The accusation of being a communist was applied to arrendatarios (farm leasers/tenants) in the highlands of the region, in conjunction with Indigenous and Indians labels in situations of land demands. In turn, the accusation of being communist was integrated and reinterpreted by the arrenderos in various ways. We will see how in the long run, this complex trajectory of labels, accusations and stigmatization, intervened in the ethnic emergence processes experienced in the region, particularly toward the 1990´s.