Paper short abstract:

This paper addresses the spaces of coloniality and the racialization of the bodies of Pueblos Originarios in the late 19th century Argentina. For this purpose, the research of the German anthropologist Robert Lehmann-Nitsche (1872-1938) on a Qom group (Formosa, Argentina) will be analyzed.

Paper long abstract:

In 1899, the Uruguayan actor José Podestá (1858-1937) recruited a group of Qom (Formosa, Argentina) for the theatrical adaptation of the narrative poem El Gaucho Martin Fierro, which was to be presented in Spain. In order to cover the expenses of the travel Podestá decided to exhibit the Qom at the Exposition Universelle de Paris (1900). This required the registration of the Qom in an official registry that granted them the legal status of Argentine citizens. This situation generated vehement condemnation from the bourgeois sectors of Argentine society.

Pressured by public opinion and the journalistic repercussions of the case, the Minister of Justice ordered the detention of the Qom and their temporary accommodation in a space proper of the colonial order: an asylum of the Catholic Church. This situation was used by the German anthropologist Robert Lehmann-Nitsche (1872-1938), chief of the Anthropology Section of the Museum of La Plata (Argentina), to carry out anthropometric studies and photographs.

From this case, I first analyze the use of spaces of coloniality as key material/abstract sites for the development of anthropological practices. I then inquire into the articulation of material technologies, epistemic elements and discursive regimes of "otherness" in the racialization of indigenous bodies. From this I account for the necessity and differential use of racialized bodies in the dramatic arts, the legal doctrine and anthropological practices.