Paper short abstract:

This paper focuses on the indigenous’ negotiation of their integration into Jesuit missions in the Chaco region. It aims at enriching the lines of historiographic research that emphasize the porous and dynamic nature of Early Modern Latin American frontiers.

Paper long abstract:

The study of the activity of the Society of Jesus in the Chaco region during the Early Modern period allows us to advance our understanding of the cultural interactions and exchanges that distinguished the frontiers of the European empires.

This paper focuses on the ability of indigenous peoples from the Chaco region to negotiate their integration into Jesuit missions and to recurrently renegotiate these conditions when conflicts aroused. Some of these conflicts, besides, were due to the difficulties deriving from the frequent cohabitation in the reducciones of various peoples or ethnic groups with no previous relation, which adds complexity to the process of cultural hybridization that characterized these missions.

By analyzing the process that led to the settlement of the indigenous in the missions and the way conflicts were solved, this papers aims at enriching the new lines of historiographic research that emphasize the porous and dynamic aspects of frontiers as opposed to the more traditional interpretations that stressed the rigidity of frontier and their function to separate or divide territories and peoples.