Sorcery as a political speech in the Argentine Chaco

SALAMANCA VILLAMIZAR CARLOS

Edimburgo

Congreso; Ninth International conference on hunting and gatherings societies; 2001

CHAGS

In this article we intend to analyze the practices and discourses related to sorcery among the Tobas of the Argentinean Chaco, from the point of view of the new political and economical contexts that the Toba communities, traditionally constituted by hunter-gatherers, have to face at present. This text is based in the fieldwork done in Namqom, which is a Toba periurban district of the town of Formosa in the Northeast of Argentina. Some inhabitants of the district have established labor relations in the town and present some traits of political participation, anyhow they remain in a situation of political, economic and social marginality. The economic income, obtained by means of the different ways of participation in the labor market, produces a social differentiation that was previously unknown among the Qom. We shall see how, in this context, the frequent accusations of sorcery reflect the increasing social inequalities and conflicts originated in the new forms to establish relations with the State institutions, political parties and the non-indigenous agents of the region. We think that the practices and discourses related to sorcery manifest the attitudes and reactions of groups that were traditionally hunter-gatherers in face of the individual economic progress.