Oasis y desiertos: visualización de la conformación del departamento de San Rafael durante la primera mitad del siglo XX (Mendoza, Argentina)

CECILIA PÉREZ WINTER

Revista Chilena de Antropología Visual

Universidad Academia de Humanismo Cristiano

Lugar: Santiago de Chile; Año: 2011 vol. 17 p. 72 - 91

0717-876X

The technological investment that took place in the San Rafael department, Mendoza province (Argentina), during the first middle of the XX century, generated the economic development in that region, as well as, the opportunity to gain terrain of the ?desert?. This term has ideological connotations due to the history of the Argentinean nation estate process during the XIX century. However, in the particular case of the Mendoza province, the climatic and environmental characteristics lead to consider this region as a desert, causing a dichotomy between desert/oasis. The objective of this paper is to discuss the use of these concepts ?desert/oasis? and analyzed their meanings in the particular case of the creation and development of San Rafael department and city, through the digitalized Photographic Collection of Juan Pi (1903-1933), of the Museo de Historia Natural de San Rafael.