Conceptualizing and contextualizing the campaign against the Chiriguanaes in eastern Tarija, 16th century. Just violence? Ethnocide? Genocide?

Abstract

This paper reflects on the expansion campaigns carried out by the first European settlers in the late 16th century from the border village of Tarija -in southeast Bolivia- eastwards, focusing on the physical violence carried out against the Chiriguanaes who occupied those territories. The declarations of participants of these campaigns, and other indirect testimonies, invite us to rethink the appropriate theoretical tools for analyzing cases where violence and cruelty seemingly greet and naturalize each other, as part of a broader process containing and legitimizing abuses. Additionally, this paper provides a historiographical overview of this issue, confronting the idea of inevitability of this type of historical event. Finally, we suggest considering the violence that characterized the Castilian expansion in the borders of colonial Charcas as genocidal social practices.