Estudios Atacameños

In the mid-19th century, several mining projects were developed in the west of Catamarca province (Argentina), mainly dedicated to the exploitation of copper. In that context, the Casa Lafone stood out –among other things– for presenting itself as an “English-style” company, differentiated from the rest by the technology used and by the way in which the tasks and different aspects related to the workers' lives were organized. In this paper we seek to characterize the operation of this mining establishment by focusing on the way in which people lived, worked and circulated as a result of spatial and architectural reconfigurations and, consequently, of times, rhythms, types and forms of work. We propose that these reconfigurations constituted subtle but no less powerful forms of workers control and discipline that, together with other actions, implied major changes and impacts on the landscape and resources and mainly on the life of the people who lived and worked there.

A mediados del siglo XIX se desarrollaron varios proyectos mineros en el oeste de la provincia de Catamarca (Argentina) dedicados principalmente a la explotación de cobre. En ese contexto, la Casa Lafone se destacó –entre otras cosas– por presentarse como un emprendimiento de “estilo inglés”, diferenciado del resto por la tecnología empleada y por el modo en que se organizaban las faenas y diferentes aspectos relativos a la vida de los trabajadores. En este artículo buscamos caracterizar el funcionamiento de dicho establecimiento minero poniendo el foco en el modo en que habitaron, trabajaron y circularon las personas como resultado de las reconfiguraciones espaciales y arquitectónicas y, en consecuencia, de tiempos, ritmos, tipos y formas de trabajo. Proponemos que esas reconfiguraciones constituyeron formas sutiles pero no menos potentes de control y disciplinamiento de la mano de obra que, junto a otras acciones, implicaron grandes cambios e impactos sobre el paisaje y los recursos y principalmente sobre la vida de las personas que allí vivieron y trabajaron.

This article presents the findings of an investigation about the sash named chumbe, made by the inga weavers of the Santiago-Manoy town of the upper Putumayo in Colombia. The objective of this work is to elucidate and comprehend the characteristics of the inga chumbe as cultural and mental artifact, in so far as it condenses and it’s a place of inscription of the significance nets of the inga people culture. The methodology used is qualitative. The tools applicated at the field work were semi-structured interview, the participant observation and a photographical register of the chumbe and the pictograms it contains. One of the main conclusions is that the Chumbe Inga, as a mental and cultural artifact, is an ‘art of memory’ in which the Inga people express their worldview and their ancestral technical and aesthetic knowledge.

Este artículo presenta los hallazgos de una investigación acerca de la faja llamada chumbe elaborada por las tejedoras ingas del pueblo Santiago-Manoy del Alto Putumayo en Colombia. El objetivo de este trabajo es dilucidar y comprender las características del chumbe inga como artefacto cultural y mental, en tanto condensa y es lugar de inscripción de las redes de significación de la cultura del pueblo inga. La metodología utilizada es de tipo cualitativa. En el trabajo de campo se aplicaron herramientas como la entrevista semiestructurada, la observación participante y un registro fotodocumental del chumbe y los pictogramas que contiene. Una de las principales conclusiones es que el chumbe inga, en tanto artefacto mental y cultural, es un “arte de la memoria” en el que el pueblo inga expresa su cosmovisión y su saber técnico y estético ancestral.

This article reconstructs the activity of a mining cooperative in its concrete experience in the critical juncture of 1969-1973 in Chile. Cooperative work was promoted by the State as a proposal for social transformation, but at the same time as a palliative to the high unemployment rates in the province of Atacama. He encouraged the organization of mining cooperatives, put in tension the margins of freedom displayed by the traditional pirquineros, on the one hand, and the demand for a systematic, continuous and organized effort, on the other. Difficult problem to assess among workers who exhibited a propensity to an itinerant life and occasional employer subordination.