From children of the mill to cotton producers.

The construction of a peasant political identity during the Los Juríes conflict, Santiago del Estero

Abstract

The article focuses on the emergence of the collective action of the Santiago peasantry during the eighties, specifically in the town of Los Juríes. On the one hand, the organizational process and its links with ecclesial, technical, union and state actors are described in a course of politicization of the sector that materialized in the formation of the Central Commission of Peasants. On the other hand, it seeks to problematize the production of discourses on peasant identity, evidencing the representations that various actors -positively or negatively- begin to discursively cement in the construction of a collective subject that will later lead to the formation of the MOCASE (Movimiento Campesino de Santiago del Estero) and other indigenous organizations and communities in recent years. From the analysis of a documentary corpus composed of journalistic clippings, technical reports, minutes of meetings, together with interviews with key informants, we contribute to problematize the forms of construction of peasant political identity in embryonic moments of struggle and resistance after territorial conflicts.