A republic of pure indians? Comunity, authocthony and legitimacy. Córdoba, Gobernación del Tucumán, 18th Century

Abstract

This paper analyses the positions of authorities and neighbours on the statusof the indigenous peoples of Cordoba, and the criteria for defining theirlegitimate members. They are confronted with outsider integration practices,population mobility, and taxation in order to glimpse their criteria andpractices regarding their belonging to the community. In order to do so, firstwe synthesize the complex processes of destructuring and rearticulating thatimplied a violent subjugation of the indigenous societies in this region; thatis their distribution in encomiendas, the resettlement of peoples or groups in their encomenderos’ properties, and/ or their reduction in Indian towns. It isassumed that the voluntary or forced mobility of the indigenous populationand the subsequent recreation of community ties within the Indian townsfuelled antagonistic positions about their nature and rights.