La invención del desierto chaqueño. Una aproximación a las formas de apropiación simbólica de los territorios del Chaco en los tiempos de formación y consolidación del Estado nación Argentino.

Abstract

The group of representation organize the social experience and constitute certain practices. Some of them are shown in the appropriation of concepts by individuals or social groups to name aspects of the world and views of those aspects that, some times, compress different conceptions of the social world in only one word. But the repetition of certain metaphors could be understood as institutionalization of an image ­certainly, non univocal-, of a particular view about the phenomena that are conceptualized. In this article some used and new meanings made of the word desert are approached. Some of these uses were made related to the practices of territorial appropriation of Chaco during the consolidation period of Argentine state nation, mainly by militer organisms that systematically led advances to Chaco since 1884 (General Victorica Campaign) and the geographical institutions that participated on the debates about occupation and colonization of Chaco. This article aims to inquire into the images built about Chaco, that are also articulated to the desert metaphor by those who wanted to transform it into a no-desert during the building process of Argentine state.