Very brief ethnohistorical overview
The
Toba and the Wichí belong to the Guaycurúan linguistic family. All
The Gran Chaco Indians successfully resisted Spanish colonization and Argentine expansion policies, until the late 1800’s. Until the 1930’s most communities still relied on foraging for their subsistence. During the last century, disruptions to their traditional lifestyle and ecological deterioration of the habitat forced many communities to migrate to urban centers and become sedentarized. At present, indigenous communities in the Gran Chaco fall along an acculturation continuum ranging from the more traditional, living in rural, isolated areas to the more Westernized communities, living in the periphery of most non-indigenous towns in the Gran Chaco and in the cities of Rosario and Buenos Aires (Miller, 1999).
For an excellent introduction to the indigenous communities of the
South American Gran Chaco, read "The People of the Gran Chaco", edited
by Elmer S. Miller (1999).
References
Braunstein J, and Miller E (1999) Ethnohistorical
Introduction. In E Miller (ed.): Peoples of the Gran Chaco. Westport,
CT: Bergin & Garvey.
Gordillo G
(1995) La subordinación y sus mediaciones: Dinámica cazadora-recolectora,
relaciones de producción, capital comercial y estado entre los Tobas del oeste
de Formosa. In H Trinchero (ed.): Producción doméstica y capital: estudios
desde la antropología económica. Buenos Aires: Biblos.
Karsten R (1967) The Toba Indians of
the Bolivian Gran Chaco. Oosterhout N.B.: Anthropological Publications.
Mendoza M, and Wright PG (1989)
Sociocultural and economic elements of the adaptation systems of the Argentine
Toba: the Nacilamolek and Taksek cases of Formosa Province. In SJ Shennan
(ed.): Archeological Approaches to Cultural Identity. Massachusetts: Unwin
Human Ltd., pp. 242-257.
Miller E, ed. (1999) Peoples of the Gran Chaco. Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey.