Las comunidades indígenas frente a la (re)expansión del capitalismo y la colonialidad. Desarrollo y posdesarrollo en el Chaco Argentino

Abstract

O ne of the central features of capitalism is represented by its continued expansion into “marginal” areas of the system, in which are found natural resources, labor and potential markets. Within the contemporary colonial / imperial order, such expansion can be guaranteed by military intervention, the use of mechanisms of blackmail by global economic organizations, or from discourses and practices that mobilize an imaginary “good modern life.” In recent decades these expansive cycles in peripheral territories of the modern/colonial system have been incarnated through the ideas/strength of development, thus providing a framework for the solidification of the dynamics of capital, which operate on the basis of the colonialism of power as a base structuring the social relations in Latin America. In this sense and within this framework, this paper analyzes the dynamics that have been followed by the developmental programs in the territories of central Chaco, while displaying the practices of appropriation and resistance of the indigenous communities in the region to such programs. Such practices have been characterized using the term “post-development”.