INDIGENOUS PERONISM? THE CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW POLITICAL SUBJECT IN THE ARGENTINE CHACO (1943-1955)

Abstract

Although some recent studies have begun to shed light on Peronism’s racial dimensions, we still know little about indigenous people’s political lives during Perón’s first and second presidencies. Indigenous leaders from Chaco and Formosa embraced the rhetoric of Peronism and the fundamental principles of populism, and applied both with disparate results. This article focuses particularly on the case of Pedro Martínez, known as the Toba’s “cacique general,” who founded new evangelical churches at the same time as he became an important interlocutor before the Argentine state. Recognizing natives as important political actors helps us to understand the formation of the Peronist state and Perón’s symbolic popularity in many native communities, without denying the material limits of the period’s indigenous politics.