Scandinavian Pentecostal Mission in the Argentine Chaco. First stage: 1914-1945

Abstract

This paper proposes an historical ethnography of the Scandinavian Pentecostal mission among the aboriginal people of the Argentinean Chaco focusing on its former period. In 1914 a Norwegian missionary,Berger Johnsen (1888-1945), established a Pentecostal base in Embarcación (Province of Salta) in order to embrace evangelical work. This study tries to add knowledge to this neglected trend in the studies about Protestant evangelism in the Chaco region. This will be done taking into account four topics: 1. the values, representations and practices of the Nordic missionary; 2. the aboriginal appropriation of the Pentecostal message; 3. the regional context, in terms of religion, politics and economy, framing the missionary enterprise; 4. the sui generis cultural reality of Embarcación mission, characterized by the presence of different ethnic groups from the central Chaco and a novel criollo town.