The Wichi Community

Spread throughout areas of northern Argentina and southeastern Bolivia, the Wichi are an indigenous people who have existed for thousands of years in the region known as the Chaco. The Wichi have traditionally survived as semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers who maintain a close relationship to their natural surroundings. Until relatively recently, the land has provided adequate food for Wichi clans and families, who relied on fish in the winter and corn, pumpkins, beans, and watermelons that they cultivated during the summer. Throughout the year, they hunted deer, armadillos, rabbits, and iguana, and gathered honey and wild fruits. However, over the past one hundred years and continuing to the present, significant portions of the Chaco have been appropriated by non-native loggers, oil companies, ranchers, and farmers, whose practices of deforestation, cattle grazing, and unsustainable large-scale agriculture are turning what was once a thriving grassland into a desert. The impact of this on the Wichi has been severe: the wild animals and fruits on which they used to depend on have disappeared; roaming cattle trample their cultivated garden plots; and even the Pilcomayo river, from which they have fished for centuries, is under threat from a new industrial waterway project. In recent decades, the Wichí, together with international nonprofits and advocacy groups, have attempted to reestablish their right to their ancestral lands. However, no practical actions have yet been taken by the provincial government to protect these rights. The continuing degradation of their land has left the Wichi without adequate food, requiring them to turn to the outside for employment and leading to the loss of traditional ways of life. 

The Mapuche Community

The Mapuche, meaning "people of the land," are the original inhabitants of central and southern Chile and southern Argentina. Resisting domination first by the Incas and then the European colonists, the Mapuche prospered in the Andes cattle trade, accumulating significant wealth during the nineteenth century. The making of silver jewelry flourished as an art form, conveying status to the wives of chiefs, denoting rites of passage, and used in traditional Mapuche ceremonies. In the past century, however, large forestry companies began expropriating their ancestral land, and despite continued protests by community leaders, less than 6 percent of Argentina's Mapuche now possess the titles to their land. There are approximately 300,000 Mapuche currently living throughout the country, mostly in Patagonia, the province of La Pampa, and Buenos Aires, but smaller groups live in impoverished enclaves on the outskirts of other major cities. About 40 percent of the Mapuche population has not received any formal education, and the majority live primarily from selling handicrafts and livestock. Though they have a deep connection to the earth, strong family bonds, and an elaborate cosmology, decades of expulsion and eviction from their homes have caused many to loose their collective ceremonies, traditions, and language. 

Chaguar Textiles

For centuries, Wichi women have used the strong fibers of the chaguar,a native forest plant resembling the yucca-to weave nets, bags, hammocks, jewelry, and other textile objects. They collect the plant, cut it with sharply pointed sticks, peal the leaves to separate the fiber, and spin the fiber to create a very strong yarn. They then dye the yarn using natural pigments extracted from roots, bark, leaves, and fruit. Traditional Wichi textile design uses ancestral symbols and patterns, reflecting cultural values and a deep relationship to nature and the environment.

Silver Jewelry

The Mapuche create replicas of ancestral silver jewelry, using techniques that have been passed down for centuries. Though appropriate for contemporary style, Mapuche jewelry pieces represent an ancient culture, charged with cosmic and sacred meaning still present in Argentine life today. Traditionally, the Mapuche believed that silver was derived from the moon and therefore sacred, making it useful to protect against evil and to bring good luck. The rattling of small dangling silver pieces was thought to enhance a woman's power and beauty. By continuing their age-old custom of making silver jewelry, Mapuche artisans are working to connect the past to the present, while maintaining the spiritual significance of their work. 

Region: Southern South America
Population: 41.8 million (2011)
Size: Slightly less than one third the size of the US
Independence: From Spain on July 9, 1816
Currency: Argentinean Peso (ARS)
Languages: Spanish is the official language; due to the presence of many European immigrants, English, Italian, French, and German are also spoken

Literacy Rate: 97.2% (2001 census)
Education: Education is required between the ages of 5-18
Primary School Enrollment Rate: 99% (2006)
Life Expectancy: Female, 73 years; Male, 80 years
Infant Mortality Rate: 10.81 deaths/1,000 live births
HIV/AIDS Prevalence: 0.7% of the population, or about 130,000 people (2001)
Poverty Rate: 26.9% of the population lives below the national poverty line (2006)
Extreme Poverty Rates: 23% of the population lives on under $2 per day and 7% live on under $1 per day (2006)
Access to clean drinking water: 97%
Access to proper sanitation: 90%
Doctor to patient ratio: 301 doctors for every 100,000 people

All statistics from CIA World Factbook 2011, CNN, & UNDP Human Development Report 2006

Background on Argentina

History

Up until the mid 1980s Argentina suffered at the hands of abusive dictatorships and ongoing economic instability culminating in the economic crash of 2002. One of the most difficult periods in Argentina's history was from 1976 to1983 when the country was ruled by a harsh military regime that tried to rid the country of anyone suspected of opposing the government. During this seven-year period, often referred to as the "Dirty War," the military established secret death camps and committed horrendous human rights violations.   Between 10,000 and 30,000 Argentines "disappeared"  during this period.  Democracy was restored in 1983 and government institutions were restored to civilian rule. Managing Argentina’s ravaged economy, however, proved elusive to successive administrations, Following a series of economic measures taken following the 2002 financial crisis, including unlinking the peso from the dollar, raising salaries and pension benefits and encouraging foreign investment, Argentina’s economy is significantly stronger and more stable.  

Economy

Argentina is perceived to be a stable democracy, yet poverty and unemployment continue to affect many Argentines as a result of the 2002 economic crash. Although the country as a whole has largely recovered, urban and rural poverty rates continue to increase, leaving over 50 percent of the population with little access to health, education and employment. Today, on the outer edges of large cities such as Buenos Aires, thousands of people still live in extreme poverty despite improvement in the country's overall economy. In rural areas of the country poverty rates are even higher: In the northern region over 50 percent of the population lives below the poverty line with little access to health, education, or jobs.

Indigenous Population

While poverty and unemployment continue to affect many Argentines, indigenous groups such as the Wichí and the Mapuche are among the poorest people. In Argentina there are about 16 to 20 indigenous groups that live in the rural northern and southern regions of the country. In these isolated areas, most indigenous people work in agriculture, but the increasing problems of desertification and overgrazing of land has made it difficult for them to grow enough crops to feed their families. In addition, many indigenous people have very limited access to education and most do not speak Spanish. This makes it hard for them to communicate their concerns to those in power and therefore, the national government has often ignored their problems. Up until the 1970s indigenous people were not recognized as citizens of Argentina and today they still do not have the right to own the land their ancestors have lived on for generations. This means that when government and businesses try to take indigenous lands, the indigenous people cannot legally claim the land as theirs or receive compensation for it even though they have lived there for years. Recently, however, some indigenous groups, especially the Mapuche in the southern region of Argentina, have launched legal campaigns to fight back against attempts to take their land. Although they have not always been successful, indigenous people in Argentina are beginning to gain much-needed attention from the government.