There is no dacalapata (meat), there is no reduction. The Indian escape from San Ignacio de los Tobas at the beginning of the 19th century

Abstract

This paper is based on an article by Martha Bechis which utilized the mathematical theory of drama or confrontation theory. This methodological instrument allows us to understand a historical episode whose deeper meanings are rooted in a broader process which gives them significance and relationships. We will analyze the escape of the Tobas from the San Ignacio reduction -Jujuy jurisdiction- at the beginning of the 19th century. To this purpose, we will contextualize the episode within the drama of the chronicfrontier instability and the scarcity of resources assigned to the maintenance of forts and reductions, and we will connect it with other episodes of the same drama and another -the suspension of the rations to the reduction, the indigenous exploitation on the haciendas and the misconduct of friar Ortiz. We propose that the escape was a strategy to which the indigenous people resorted to assert their interests and needs against the Spanish Creoles.