Guardianship, Paternalism and Coercion at the Crossroads of Indigenous Labor: an Approach to the Chiriguano Experience in Charcas (16th-18th centuries)

Abstract

The historical perspective of this text analyzes the intricate articulation between tutelary government, paternalistic logic of colonial administration and the validation of indigenous labor coercion between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries in Charcas. It allows to understand how the juridical figures of minority of age and misery were not only operative in the justification of the presence and permanence of the Catholic Monarchy in America, but also validated a generalizing and inferiorized construction of cultural difference. The approach to the phenomenon of captivity and labor exploitation of Chiriguanos allows us to see the practical scope of the tutelary government over some indigenous people, as well as its persistence in daily life beyond the prohibitions. The final reflection deals with the legitimization of violence - concrete and symbolic - within a paternalistic logic of the exercise of authority. It becomes evident that the effects of infantilizing discrimination policies linked to the worlds of indigenous labor continue to be sensitive issues even today in Bolivia.