In this introduction we take a comparative approach to analyze the most outstanding historical and contemporary political and social processes that constitute the Gran Chaco. We take a trinational perspective to examine five major processes that have shaped and continue to influence the socio-economic, political and cultural dynamics in the area: missionization, millenarian movements, the Chaco war, industrial enclaves, political mobilization and the struggle for rights. In each of these descriptions we highlight the peculiarities of how particular events involving different groups of people have developed and played out in each country. In the conclusion we emphasize the main themes that emerge from the chapters, emphasizing similarities and differences that have marked the broad transformations experienced in each country, and delineate present and future challenges that hinge upon the sustainability, both environmental and human, of this vast and complex region.
During the mid-1920s, Mennonite settlers to the Paraguayan Chaco established a system of self-governance in a frontier region constructed and imagined at "the edge" of the state. Despite the fast-paced economic development that has rapidly transformed the region, the Mennonites have managed to remain socially and geographically isolated from the rest of the population until recently. What sustains their contemporary model of self-governance in a context that is rapidly changing? An examination of the key role of intimacy, explored through the strategic deployment of sexuality and the establishment of socioeconomic institutions, reveals how they have established a racialized project of sovereignty in the region, coconstructed in interdependence with the Paraguayan state. The article discusses the implications of such a model in a region inhabited mostly by indigenous peoples, and offers some theoretical reflections on the intimate role of race and sexuality in shaping nonstate projects of sovereignty. [Gran Chaco, indigenous peoples, Mennonite settlers, Paraguay, sovereignty, state] R e s u m e n A mediados de la década de 1920, un grupo de colonos menonitas estableció un sistema de autogobierno en el Chaco paraguayo, una región fronteriza construida e imaginada en la "periferia" del Estado. A pesar del acelerado desarrollo económico que ha transformado rápidamente a la región, hasta hace poco tiempo los menonitas habían logrado permanecer aislados social y económicamente del resto de la población. ¿Qué sostiene su modelo contemporáneo de autogobierno en un contexto que está cambiando tan apresuradamente? Un análisis del rol clave de la intimidad, explorado a través del despliegue estratégico de la sexualidad y el establecimiento de instituciones socioeconómicas, revela cómo los menonitas han establecido un proyecto racializado
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This chapter explores how multiculturalism is articulated and experienced as a contemporary form of governance in Paraguay, revealing how multicultural citizenship is constructed by colliding agendas that ultimately reproduce colonial hierarchies, that continue to exclude indigenous peoples from accessing state resources and services. The chapter provides a historical outline of neoliberal state reforms initiated after the fall of the 35-year-long dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner in 1989. Drawing on the case study of Ayoreo women, it examines how the current context of state-sponsored multicultural health system reforms plays out at the local level. The experiences of Ayoreo people living in the context of the Mennonite Colonies reveal how health providers engage in discourses and practices that aim at regulating indigenous women’s bodies and ultimately limit their access to health prevention and treatment programs.
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