Abstract

SALAMANCA, Carlos A.  and  TOLA, Florencia C.. Witchcraft as Political Discourse among the Tobas of the Chaco Region of Argentina. Desacatos [online]. 2002, n.9, pp.96-116. ISSN 2448-5144.

This paper analyzes the practice of witchcraft as a new form of political action in two Tobas settlements in the Chaco region of Argentina. The authors examine how societies develop forms of resistance, which incorporate traditional elements as a means of facing up to changing situations, and give them new significance in the light of new actors, identities and contexts. Internal migration processes to the city and the resulting peri-urban settlements bring about inter-cultural relationships in dynamic contexts. The interactions of the different social groups, organizations, churches and governmental bodies are heterogeneous. In these contexts, tradition and modernity are the two sides of the coin that simultaneously make up a single situation of marginalization and social unrest, which is expressed through the practice and accusations of witchcraft. These manifestations are expressed in the body, which has become the battlefield, the reproducer and inquisitor of the social order, power relations and the reflection of the social conflicts generated by change.

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