Heritage-making, landscapes, and experiences in tension in the Southern Andes mountains, Argentina

ABSTRACT

This paper employs the concepts of heritage-making, communal identity formation, and landscape production to analyse the spaces that contribute to local, provincial, and national identities. Specifically, we examine how these spaces, now valued for their natural and historical significance, shape contemporary collective identity. Our study is located in the Andes mountain range, in an area called Manzano Histórico, in central- western Argentina, which is part of a larger nature reserve created to protect the headwaters of the basin and mountain areas from large-scale economic projects. This paper utilises a qualitative methodology that combines archaeological and historical studies with ethnographic techniques and a survey to describe and analyse the millennial occupation of the region. This continuous occupation has been shaped by multiple ways of inhabiting the world, some dominant and others marginalised or made invisible, resulting in ongoing present-day tensions. The heritage landscape proposed is a partial result of these tensions, a textured, fractured, and patched product of diverse, historically enabled practices. By analysing these spaces, we aim to acknowledge the various ways of being in the world that intersect within them, as well as the identity formations of alterity that hierarchise or invisibilise these practices.

KEYWORDS:

• heritage landscapes
• imagined community
• identity formation
• Andes mountains
• Argentina

Acknowledgements

We wish to express our sincere appreciation to the following individuals for their significant contributions to this paper: Laura Zalazar for creating the maps that proved crucial to our research; Eric Moench for providing expert advice and guidance on statistical methodologies; Silvia Barbuzza for her dedication in translating this paper into English, ensuring that our findings reach a broader audience; Vanina Terraza, Karina Castañar, and Laura Besio for their unwavering support and assistance in conducting surveys, playing a pivotal role in data collection; Jorge Mendez, Mrs. Ubilla, Manu, Cristina, Elizabeth, and other local individuals for generously sharing their insights and participating in interviews, thereby enriching our study with their valuable perspectives; and finally, anonymous reviewers and RJHS Editor, Mrs. Laurajena Smith, for their diligent review and constructive feedback, which significantly improved the overall quality of the paper. To all these contributors, we express our profound gratitude for their commitment, diligence, and willingness to help us in every aspect of this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Our translation.

2. This survey was designed for this research and is part of the Project called, “Heritage-making, collective memories and disputes in Tunuyán Superior river, Mendoza, Argentina”. This paper forms part of this project.

3. Antonio José Scaravelli (Italy 1895-Argentina 1958). He studied medicine in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 1927, he arrived in Tunuyán, and in 1931, he founded the first hospital. He exerted a strong influence in Tunuyán as a doctor, a politician, and cultural manager . His agency was fundamental in the creation of El Manzano as a sanmartinian site (Mendez 2020).

4. Luis Perlotti (1890-1969), was an Argentine sculptor with a very profuse monument production all around the country. He won several public contests to build commemorative, funerary, and allegorical sculptures inspired by Latin American traditions. The Return to the homeland monument in El Manzano was one of the most important in his repertoire.

5. Fidel Enrique Jaime Roig Matóns (1885-1977) was a Catalan painter and musician who lived in Mendoza since 1908. His artwork gained anthropological and historical value due to his interest in the local landscape and traditions. Especially well known are the series of paintings (acuarela and charcoal) about Guanacache Lagoons and Huarpes, and the sequence of Andes landscapes and the Sanmartinian campaign, called ”Epic landscape”.

6. Our translation.

7. According to the signage of the place, an Indigenous woman, who was escaping from the attack of an enemy group, died when she tried to spend the night in the open and in low temperatures.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) and by the Science and Technology Fund (FONCYT) through the project entitled “Heritage making, collective memories and disputes in Tunuyán Superior river, Mendoza, Argentina” (PICT 1632/17).

Notes on contributors

Leticia Saldi

Leticia Saldi is a researcher at the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) and a professor at the National University of Cuyo. She is interested in the social, cultural, and ethnic production of hydro landscapes in central western Argentina.

María José Ots

María José Ots is a researcher at the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) and a professor at the National University of Cuyo. She conducts historical and archaeological research about native communities of the Uco Valley (central western Argentina).

Luis Mafferra

Luis Mafferra is a researcher and professor at the National University of Cuyo. He has focused his interest on human-environmental interactions, especially in relation to trees and forest landscapes in central western Argentina.