Guillermina Espósito and Ludmila Silva Catela: Indians, Communists and Guerrillas. Fear and Memory of Land Struggles in the Andean Highlands of Jujuy, Argentina

Abstract

In this article we address the ways in which the land struggles in the Andean province of Jujuy, Argentina, were interpreted, since the end of the XIX century, in terms of a “communist threat.” The accusation of being a “communist” was applied to arrendatarios (tenants) in the highlands of the region, along with the “Indigenous” and “Indians labels, in situations of land demands. On the other hand, the accusation of being communist was integrated and reinterpreted by the arrenderos in various ways. We examine how this complex trajectory of labels, accusations and stigmatization intervened, in the long run, with the process of ethnic revival experienced in the region, particularly toward the 1990’s.

[Argentina, Jujuy, land struggles, indigenous communities, communism]


 
AJ2020/2