Boundaries in the liquid pampas: the confluence of Argentina and Uruguay in the La Plata River

FERNANDO WILLIAMS

Londres

Encuentro; Encuentro Anual de la Royal Geographic Society,; 2021

Royal Geographic Society (UK)

As the point of arrival of a huge system of tributaries that form the second largest basin in South America, the La Plata river receives waters from rivers belonging to five different countries. Its unusual width -140 miles at its mouth- has led some to consider it as an estuary rather than a river. Be that as it may, during the last two centuries, the La Plata river has posed interesting challenges to the demarcation of the boundary between Argentina and Uruguay.Even when a historical perspective cannot be disregarded, the present paper will not be restricted to a history of boundary setting. Rather, it will attempt to deal with two questions which can lead to a much needed reconceptualization of boundaries.First, the hydrological specificities of this particular river. Among those specificities, the existence of both the immediately adjacent Paraná delta, and the Martín García Island, next to the Argentine-Uruguayan border, are worth taken into consideration. Together with the Pampean shores, the study of these specific areas will be an opportunity to understand the environmental problems associated with the occupation and urbanization of these territories. Besides, the diferential deposition of sediment must also be addressed, a phenomenon that poses a serious threat to the fixation of political boundaries.Secondly, the paper will deal with the cultural implications of the constant presence of water in the lower part of this basin. Drawing from literature, painting and architecture, the present paper?s main field of inquiry will be that of landscape imaginaries. We maintain that it is crucial to take into account aesthetic distinctions when thinking of political boundaries. This issue is particularly relevant if we remember that certain approaches ?especially postcolonial studies- tend to emphasize the political implications inherent in territorial borders, disregarding a broader approach which should not exclude ethnographic and/or environmental epistemologies and aesthetics. Studying the La Plata river from this perspective presents an opportunity to revise not only the concept of boundary but also that of river. A conventional conceptualization renders rivers as lines, a common place that owes much not also to infrastructural works defining water courses and their shores, but also to the actual demarcation of political boundaries.