State and community: disputes and articulations in the local space of Amaicha del Valle, Tucumán Province. Late 19th to mid 20th centuries

Abstract

This paper analyzes the socio-ethnical and political transformations suffered by the indigenous community of Amaicha del Valle since late 19th century, due to the arrival of various state institutions once thevillage of Amaicha was founded. The institutions and actors associated will be observed, focusing in the articulations and disputes with local people -called amaicheños- and their traditional authorities. Thepresence of the state, through its agents and institutions, also allows us to think about the visibility and invisibility of indigenous traits in this population in an effort to problematize about the ways in which aset of voices coming from state institutions, academics and/or amateurs describe and referrer to the amaicheños, in a national context trying to build an Argentinean cultural identity under the hegemonic idealof a white European nation.