Women and children first: age and gender in the photographs of the “Desert Conquest” in Northpatagonia, Argentina, by the end of the 19th Century.
Ana Butto CONICET – AIA- University of Buenos Aires
In this paper, we examine a corpus of 235 photographs produced during the “Desert Conquest”, which was carried out in the late 19thCentury in North Patagonia (Argentina), in order to track down the representations of age and gender of the photographed subjects: soldiers who integrated the military campaigns, western settlers and Indigenous peoples that inhabited those territories.
This analysis showes that the photographic representation was set on the male military sector, presenting them as the builders of the Argentine Nation, disregarding the settler families and the indigenous peoples who inhabited these territories. Women and children, both Western and Indigenous, became invisible to the official history. We consider that visual archaeology allows us to critically examine what has been established as “natural” by the state-nation.
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Contesting submissiveness: Susana Silvestre´s urban female subjects of the 1990s
Hólmfríður Garðarsdóttir (University of Iceland)
This article examines how novelist Susana Silvestre mirrors Argentine society of the 1990s by exposing women´s subordinate positions. It focuses the way her trilogy, composed of Si yo muero primero (1991), Mucho amor en inglés (1994) and No te olvides de mí (1995), exposes women´s multiple subaltern positions and how her female characters evolve from feeling belittled, worthless and suffering from placelessness, to become independent urban social subjects that contest subalternity and vehemently protest the conditions under which they live. It argues that Silvestre’s constructive revision of predominant hegemonic social structures chart a progressive renovation of predominant value systems as well as the conceptualization of reality. Furthermore, while Silvestre´s female protagonists certainly demand place and time, they do not dwell on the claim per se but actively define it and then create the necessary conditions to conquer that space – imaginary as well as socially and culturally.
Mobility and change in the Arctic: an ethnographic case study of sled dogs in Greenland
Kristinn Schram & Andrea Fiocca University of Iceland
Understanding the societal impact of climate change entails many challenges and presents us with wide knowledge gaps. One example is howa changing environment, mobility and increasing tourism are transforming the use of sled dogs and opening up new scenarios and perspectives on traditional practices in the Arctic, both in the economic and cultural dimension. Through participant observation of practices linked to sled dog use this article addresses perceptions of local inhabitants regarding sled dogs, environment and tourism. The ethnographic research offers insights into the hunting, recreation and tourism activities in Kulusuk, a small village in East Greenland. The relationship between people and sled dogs can unveil multiple meanings regarding how the value of animals, environment and heritage vary and change through traditional, rural and urbanizing areas. The investigation shows how social patterns of the coexistence of humans and animals are changing in this crucial period of transition in the Arctic and sub-Arctic. In this context, the perceptions and effects of increasing tourism and climate change will throw light on the future dynamics of mobility in these areas.