From “Come and Stay” to “Born and Raised”: the Transnational Communities of Chilotes in the sheep industry of Río Grande, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina (1900-1980)

Abstract

This article shows ethnographic findings on Chilote movements towards Río Grande, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, between 1900 and 1980, highlighting the economic development that promoted the sheep industry as a focus for attracting “swallow” migrants. The field work followed the multi sited ethnography approach that considered the circumstantial monitoring of returned and resident migrants. The results show how the Chilote settlements were considered culturally “dangerous” in the Chileanization of Argentine territory, being its inhabitants classified through social markers such as “Former Settlers”, “Come and Stay”, and “Born and Raised”. The conclusions situate the resignification of the inhabited territory through creative strategies such as collective action and the formation of communities. This paper contributes to migration studies from an anthropological perspective through the concept of transnational social fields, which allows us to understand the resignification of the notion of home in Rio Grande through the circulation of meanings, objects, identities, resources and cultural practices in movement.