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Intersecciones en antropología
On-line version ISSN 1850-373X
Abstract
ANDREANI, Héctor. La tradición conflictiva de los fantasmas: Notas antropológicas sobre escrituras quichuas en Santiago del Estero, Argentina. Intersecciones antropol. [online]. 2014, vol.15, n.2, pp.391-403. ISSN 1850-373X.
What happens when a marginalized indigenous language, with no social visibility, generates numerous conflicts when used as a public writing system? How are certain sectors, individuals, institutions and processes affected when these written works emerge? In this paper, an anthropological approach is taken to Quichua language writing practices in the province of Santiago del Estero, Argentina. A chronicle is presented of situations where tensions are generated: the invention of a de-Indianized cultural field for this language; long-standing ideological conflicts regarding the use of different alphabets; 'culturalist' uses from certain centers of cultural power in the provice; and newly emerging written works from the educational and youth spheres. The starting assumption is that any development of a native writing system will necessarily have to be based on the social practices and cultural parameters of a sociolinguistically heterogeneous population. This should help us understand why problematic set-backs and obstructions can confront an indigenous language as it attempts to manifest itself as a fully-fledged writing-system, within the prevailing discursive hegemony.
Keywords : Literacy in Quichua; Linguistic ideologies; Discursive hegemony; Linguistic conflict; Sociolinguistic tactics.