The new urban poor: The Tobas indians

The Tobas belong to a large group of indigenous
people known as the guaycuruÂes.
Originally they occupied an extensive part
of northern Argentina in the Chaco (aymara
for hunting ground) area, which includes the
provinces of Chaco, Santa FeÂ, Santiago del
Estero, Salta, and Formosa, reaching as far
as neighbouring Paraguay. Chaco was once
covered with immense forests which contained
valuable plants and tree species such
as the quebracho. The Tobas were a nomadic
group who lived by hunting, ® shing,
and gathering. They later adopted some Andean
cultural traditions such as ceramics,
weaving, and basket-making (Canals Frau
1987) .
Since 1880, the Argentinian government
has been systematically occupying indigenous
lands. In Chaco, the last major confrontation
between the guaycuruÂes and the
army was in 1919. The indigenous people
were decimated both by the army’ s superior
® repower, but also by alcohol. Their ancestral
hunting grounds were turned into vast
estates mainly for the timber trade. One
London-based company alone, La Forestal,
held over two million hectares in the Chaco
region (Gori 1983). The extraction of tannin
from the quebracho, the production of
sleepers for the railways, and wood for
fences, reduced the vast forest into an enormous
wasteland within a few decades. A
quebracho tree takes 100 years to grow but
no one was interested in so long a wait ¼
With great dif® culty the Tobas adapted to
their new, harsher situation. Few worked in
the timber industry because they regarded
the quebracho as sacred, and much of their
disagreement with the white people arose
from their plunder of the forests. The Tobas
continued ® shing and were eventually able
to sell their crafts, though there were few
tourists to buy them. They also took on
wage-labour or domestic jobs; many women
became house-servants for the white colonialists.
The emerging cotton industry provided
the best opportunities for subsistence.
Each year, a huge number of Tobas people
took part in the cotton harvesting which
provided a substantial cash income. The
money was handled by the women and
would cover all the most urgent needs until
the next harvest.