Abstract

GOLE, Carla. Mbya-Guaraní Territorialization Processes in Southwestern Misiones Since the 1970s: An Approach Through Encounter and the Place-Event. Antipod. Rev. Antropol. Arqueol. [online]. 2025, n.60, pp.217-243.  Epub Aug 11, 2025. ISSN 1900-5407.  https://doi.org/10.7440/antipoda60.2025.09.

This article analyzes aspects of the contemporary territorialization processes of the Mbya-Guaraní people in the southwestern region of Misiones Province (Argentina), resulting from political and territorial transformations since the mid-20th century. It examines the impact of Misiones’ provincialization in 1953, changes in the provincial productive structure from the 1970s onward, and regulatory developments following the return to democracy in 1983-key moments in shaping the relationship between the state, the Catholic Church, and the Indigenous population. The analysis focuses on the relationships, motivations, and negotiations that led some Mbya families to form the communities of Andresito and Katupyry, located in rural areas of the municipality of San Ignacio, beginning in the late 1970s. The research adopts an ethnographic perspective that foregrounds a historical lens, understood as an approach that enables a nuanced understanding of complex social processes shaped by the interaction of multiple actors, forms of knowledge, memories, and interests grounded in historical dynamics. The ethnographic construction brings together conversations, oral histories, territorial journeys, and the analysis of intergenerational trajectories. This approach allows for an understanding of how current communities have been shaped through processes of deterritorialization and reterritorialization. Within this framework, the article draws on insights from critical geography, particularly the notion of the place-event, which recognizes the formation of places as the outcome of unequal relationships and negotiations among actors with diverse trajectories. Additionally, the concept of encounter, which emerged from the ethnographic work, is introduced to explore Mbya territorial dynamics of proximity and distance in relation to urban centers, schools, and the recurring influence of Catholicism in the studied area. The article aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of how the Mbya people sustain their presence in contexts marked by historical disputes, structural transformations, and territorial precarity.

Keywords : Encounter; Mbya-Guaraní communities; rural social space; place-event; territorialization..

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