Espacios nacionales y espacios regionales. Conflictos y concertaciones en las fronteras chaqueñas de Argentina, Bolivia y Paraguay

Abstract

From the end of the nineteenth century until the middle of the twentieth, the Gran Chaco was a zone of conflict. Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay exercised varied and competing influences in the region, reflecting the intentions of each nation to incorporate the Chaco forcibly as part of larger projects of industrialisation and colonisation. This study examines the implementation of these projects, as well as the resistance they generated in the face of the violence visited upon the inhabitants of the region, whether indigenous peoples, mestizos, or whites. From an anthropological perspective, the work also reassesses conflicts in the Chaco region as a problem in the history of inter-American relations, where non-governmental actors determine links between people and government. The article goes on to consider the national and regional contexts to conflict, in which frontiers and boundaries are further concepts and realities to be assessed.