Territory and agrarian culture Formosa (Argentina) in the first half of the 20th century

Abstract

Argentina is a country of nearly 3 million square kilometers, with deep interregional imbalances and an economy and society with a rural basis. Therefore, it is significant to know the characteristics of the social construction of space and the inequalities caused by differential power of the regional actors. The purpose of this historical study is to inquire what occurs in those regions where the “forces of development” are absent and how social subjects act in these contexts. The National Territory of Formosa, studied here, shows a combination of historical, geographical and ecological factors that make it possible to approach the knowledge of a singular agrarian culture, with permanence and changes, up to the mid-twentieth century. How is life in a marginal rural area of the Argentine Northeast? What are the economy’s characteristics and what are the labor conditions that constitute this agrarian culture? What is the state’s role? What is the predominant system of land tenure? The objective of this paper is to analyze the case of Formosa – a National Territory, marginally located in Northeast Argentina – and its actors through the study of its agrarian culture, in contrast with the governance’s inertia. Original, published and unpublished documents (court records, government resolutions, correspondence and legislation), journals and cartography give empirical support to this research.

Keywords: Formosa, agrarian culture, territory.