73
the labour market, fulfilling harvesting or weeding tasks at logging camps and
ranches (Soich, 2007). The abrupt transformations increased tension in the region
(Gordillo, 1992). Towards the beginning of the twentieth century, and in this context
of exploitation, the Moqoit led several uprising movements that carried an important
cosmological component (San Javier, 1904; Florencia, 1905; Napalpí, 1924;
Zapallar, 1933) and culminated in fierce repression (Bartolomé, 1972; Cordeu &
Siffredi, 1971; Radovich, 2014; Salamanca, 2010). By the end of the late 1970s, the
presence of non-Catholic Christian churches (Iglesia Evangélica Unida, Iglesia
Cuadrangular, etc.) began to gain importance among the Moqoit communities
(Altman, 2010). This gave place to the local resignification of Reformed Christianity,
which is currently a factor of utmost importance in the organization of many Moqoit
communities. The present-day Moqoit population consists of 17,339 people in the
Argentine provinces of Chaco and Santa Fe and 671 people in the rest of the country
(Figs. 1 and 2). This means a total 18,010 people for the entire country (INDEC, 2015).
The fieldwork which will be referred in this article was carried out between 1999
and 2019 in three rural communities (Colonia Cacique Catán, Colonia Juan Larrea,
El Pastoril and Colonia Aborigen Chaco) and one urban community (San Bernardo),
all located in the province of Chaco (Figs. 3 and 4). A wide variety of ethnographic
techniques was employed: participant observation; structured and semi-structured
interviews (both individual and in groups) with a large number of community members (men and women; children, youth, adults and the elderly; leaders, ritual specialists and people who do not occupy central roles in the community’s leadership
networks); and observation of celestial and meteorological phenomena with various
members of the studied communities.
3 Cosmos and Power
As is the case in other Guaycurú groups, power is an axis that articulates the Moqoit
experience of the world (Giménez Benítez, López, & Granada, 2004; Idoyaga
Molina, 1995; Terán, 1994; Tola, 2009; Wright, 2008), structured mainly by the
human and non-human societies that inhabit it. That is why the management of
power (its acquisition, preservation and build-up) and that of asymmetrical power
relations (in particular, how to relate with beings of a power greater than the own),
is key to understanding their life experience. It can be held that power is in the centre of the Moqoit universe’s economy
4
; existence itself implies the unfolding of
diverse cosmo-politics
5
that organize relations within their own and among other
4 Here, we use the term economy in a broad sense, compatible with the concept developed by Pierre
Bourdieu (1997) in his general economy of practice. Pablo Wright (2008: 107) refers to a cultural
economy of space in a similar manner.
5 The concept of cosmo-politics was posed by Isabelle Stengers (1997) to account for the multiple
and diverging human and non-human worlds and their mutual articulations. Latour (2004: 454) has
pointed that ‘cosmos’ serves here to remove the concept of ‘politics’ from the exclusively human
Signs, Not Phenomena: Moqoit Cosmo-politics and Alternative Experiences…
the labour market, fulfilling harvesting or weeding tasks at logging camps and
ranches (Soich, 2007). The abrupt transformations increased tension in the region
(Gordillo, 1992). Towards the beginning of the twentieth century, and in this context
of exploitation, the Moqoit led several uprising movements that carried an important
cosmological component (San Javier, 1904; Florencia, 1905; Napalpí, 1924;
Zapallar, 1933) and culminated in fierce repression (Bartolomé, 1972; Cordeu &
Siffredi, 1971; Radovich, 2014; Salamanca, 2010). By the end of the late 1970s, the
presence of non-Catholic Christian churches (Iglesia Evangélica Unida, Iglesia
Cuadrangular, etc.) began to gain importance among the Moqoit communities
(Altman, 2010). This gave place to the local resignification of Reformed Christianity,
which is currently a factor of utmost importance in the organization of many Moqoit
communities. The present-day Moqoit population consists of 17,339 people in the
Argentine provinces of Chaco and Santa Fe and 671 people in the rest of the country
(Figs. 1 and 2). This means a total 18,010 people for the entire country (INDEC, 2015).
The fieldwork which will be referred in this article was carried out between 1999
and 2019 in three rural communities (Colonia Cacique Catán, Colonia Juan Larrea,
El Pastoril and Colonia Aborigen Chaco) and one urban community (San Bernardo),
all located in the province of Chaco (Figs. 3 and 4). A wide variety of ethnographic
techniques was employed: participant observation; structured and semi-structured
interviews (both individual and in groups) with a large number of community members (men and women; children, youth, adults and the elderly; leaders, ritual specialists and people who do not occupy central roles in the community’s leadership
networks); and observation of celestial and meteorological phenomena with various
members of the studied communities.
3 Cosmos and Power
As is the case in other Guaycurú groups, power is an axis that articulates the Moqoit
experience of the world (Giménez Benítez, López, & Granada, 2004; Idoyaga
Molina, 1995; Terán, 1994; Tola, 2009; Wright, 2008), structured mainly by the
human and non-human societies that inhabit it. That is why the management of
power (its acquisition, preservation and build-up) and that of asymmetrical power
relations (in particular, how to relate with beings of a power greater than the own),
is key to understanding their life experience. It can be held that power is in the centre of the Moqoit universe’s economy
4
; existence itself implies the unfolding of
diverse cosmo-politics
5
that organize relations within their own and among other
4 Here, we use the term economy in a broad sense, compatible with the concept developed by Pierre
Bourdieu (1997) in his general economy of practice. Pablo Wright (2008: 107) refers to a cultural
economy of space in a similar manner.
5 The concept of cosmo-politics was posed by Isabelle Stengers (1997) to account for the multiple
and diverging human and non-human worlds and their mutual articulations. Latour (2004: 454) has
pointed that ‘cosmos’ serves here to remove the concept of ‘politics’ from the exclusively human
Signs, Not Phenomena: Moqoit Cosmo-politics and Alternative Experiences…