PARAMETROS DE DISEÑO

The historical and ethnographic accounts o f observations o f Fuegian societies cover four hundred years, from the XVI to the XX century. The first recorded observation o f painted Selk’nam aborigines dates back to the late XVI century (Sarmiento de Gamboa (1580-1584) 1950), while in the Yâmana case it dates back to mid-XVII century (van Walbeek 1643). In both cases, the last first-hand observations o f the paintings worn by these aborigines were made before 1930 (Gusinde 1924 and Spencer 1929).

The total number o f first-hand authors consulted is 55, o f which 18 refer to the Selk’nam case, 25 to the Yâmana, and 12 to both. The number o f written sources that provide

relevant information for this thesis is 75, while the visual records add up to 228 photographs and drawings, o f which 130 provide evidence about the Selk’nam case and 98 about the Yâmana case.

Given this great number o f sources that refer to body painting, a full history o f research that accounts for the circumstances o f the construction o f the records by each author clearly entails a lengthy text. For this reason, such detailed analysis is presented in appendix B. I will summarise in this section the most important points developed in this appendix, with the aim o f pinpointing the background, biases and intentions o f the authors, which have clearly shaped the written and visual sources. As noted in chapter 1, such critical analysis does not detach the information about body painting from such biased contexts, but rather brings awareness about its limitations and also about its potentials.

The history o f the formation o f the historical and ethnographic records about Tierra del Fuego can be divided into three different broad trends, which originated in chronological succession, although due to their different duration they also overlapped in time. These trends were developed by Western individuals and groups with very different aims and attitudes, which precisely help in characterising such tendencies; these are: the voyagers-explorers, the missionaries, and the ethnographers.

With the growing interest and competition between European countries to explore and take possession o f different regions o f the globe which had potential economic and strategic benefit, exploratory voyages to the southernmost portion o f the American continent were planned in the early XVI century. The records that include information about the Fuegians started with the successful journey o f Magallanes in 1520, in which he discovered the strait that connects the Atlantic with the Pacific^ and for the first time observed the presence o f humans in the region, hinted by their fires, hence the name Tierra del Fuego, the land o f fire (Pigafetta 1946 (1520)).

The voyagers’ journey records focus mostly on the description o f the geographical features o f shores and seas, since it is clear that these were needed as future reference to reach the places once discovered. But various of these also mention the encounters with aborigines when the expeditions went on shore, and/or when they were approached by those Fuegians that moved in canoes (i.e. the Yâmana and the Alacaluf). Such encounters were in some cases violent, not only because o f aggressive intentions o f the Europeans or o f defensive reactions o f the aborigines (e.g. Van Noort (1599) in Alvarez 2000: 40), but also because o f great

Which was o f crucial interest at that time because it was not known that land that existed further south was in fact not a m assive continental landmass but a group o f islands among which it was possible to navigate.

misunderstandings between the two groups, particularly when the voyagers intended to take aborigines as guides or interpreters (e.g. Sarmiento de Gamboa (1580-1584) 1950). It is interesting to note that the first records o f encounters with the Selk’nam and Yâmana aborigines (Sarmiento de Gamboa (1580-1584) 1950 and Van Walbeeck 1643, respectively) already indicate their use o f body painting, which then dates such practices back to the XVI and XVII centuries respectively.

P late 2 .1 . D r a w in g o f tw o F u egian a b o rig in es w ea r in g p a in ted (? ) d e sig n s on their b o d ies ( Y 9 5 ) . In sp ite o f the W estern sty le o f the d e sig n s, this m ig h t b e th e first v isu a l record o f su ch p ra ctice by the Y â m a n a , d atin g from around 1630.

P late 2 .2 . D eta il from a m ap sh o w in g d ra w in g s o f a b o rig in es, p o s s ib ly p ain ted , p o ssib ly o f A la c a lu f o rig in ( S I 30 a and b; this v isu a l d o c u m e n t has b een in clu d ed in the S e lk ’nam records o n ly b e c a u se o f the territorial p o sitio n o f the a b o rig in es w ith in the m ap, and d o es n ot n e c e ssa r ily im p ly e th n ic -s o c ia l id en tifica tio n ).

In the XVIII century, the voyagers reports show a shift in the quantity and especially quality o f the observations about the aborigines. The clearest case o f this new direction is found in the texts o f Banks (1962) and G. Forster (1777), who were the naturalists on board o f the two expeditions led by J. Cook in 1769 and 1772, which reached Tierra del Fuego. These texts show intentions not just o f providing account o f the observed customs, but also o f generating explanations for what was observed^. Such interest was also developed by the XIX century voyagers, the most well known example being that o f Fitz-Roy (1839b) and Darwin (1839 and 1845), whose texts show an intricate mixture o f ethnocentric opinions, with attempts o f scientific description and contextual interpretation o f the great cultural differences that were observed^ Within the former, Darwin’s opinion that the difference between a ‘savage’ and civilised man was greater than that o f a wild and domesticated animal (1945: 16), and his quotations from Western and aboriginal informants about the Yâmana’s cannibalism (ibid: 214) greatly contributed to generate a deeply negative image o f the Fuegians which took several decades to be challenged (see below).

At the same time, the intentions to produce changes in the aborigines were taken to such extreme, that four aborigines (Fuegia Basket, York M inster and Boat Memory, o f Alacaluf origin, and Jemmy Button, o f Yâmana origin) were taken to Great Britain by Parker King and Fitz-Roy in their first trip (1826-1830) to educate them according to the British- Western culture, with the aim o f bringing them back to Tierra del Fuego in the second trip (1831-1836, in which Darwin took part). There, they were expected to teach what they had learnt to their compatriots, to ‘civilise’ and take them out o f their ‘savage’ state. Such attempt is one o f the clearest practical examples o f the evolutionist framework, which went beyond explaining the differential stages o f evolution o f humankind and also included the possibility o f fostering evolutionary change by subjecting the ‘savage’ individuals to learning new ‘civilised’ cultural customs.

Other XIX century expeditions (Webster 1834, Wilkes 1844 in Gusinde 1986: 111- 116, Ross 1847) have contributed with observations, some o f considerable detail, about the Yâmana, and mentioned the positive effect that their visits must have had on the aborigines (Ross 1847), showing again not just ethnocentrism about the aborigines customs, but open interest in their transformation. And it is precisely at this time, in which a much more thorough and systematic transformation o f the aborigines started to take place, the

^ See chapter 3 and appendix B for the specific data on the explanations offered by Forster about body painting practices.

establishment o f the missions, which originated the second trend o f historical records about the Fuegians. The first institution to plan a Fuegian mission was the Patagonian Missionary Society (later renamed South American Missionary Society), which was founded in 1844 in Great Britain by Anglican members, and focused on the transformation o f the aborigines of the southern area o f Tierra del Fuego (see table 2.2 and map 2.1), mostly in terms o f their religion and working habits. Its first attempt ended up with the death o f A. Gardiner, the mission leader, and the six members o f the expedition due to starvation and the extremely harsh weather conditions. The diary o f one o f the missionaries, R. Williams (in Hamilton 1845) records the events o f this tragic experience, including observations about their difficult interaction with the Yâmana aborigines. Yet in spite o f the ethnocentric and fearful accounts about them, Williams saw in them “a fac-simile o f our British forefathers” (ibid: 117), linking from an evolutionist perspective these different ‘savages’ and their own ancestors. For the missionaries, the Fuegians were the ‘others’, but these ‘others’ were, if remotely, related to them, and therefore deserved help to overcome what was considered some o f the harshest living conditions in the world.

The Anglican missionaries included in their letters and diaries a number o f observations about the Yâmana, various o f which refer to their body paintings (Williams in Hamilton 1854, Parker Snow 1866, Despard 1857, 1860, 1861, Stirling 1864, Bridges 1872, 1875, 1876, 1869, 1886, 1897, 1933). O f these, the most thorough texts are those written by Bridges, the step-son o f Despard. He particularly focused on the Yâmana language, compiling a Yâmana-English dictionary including about 30,000 terms (Bridges 1933); other texts were also written as ‘ethnographic’ reports about the Fuegian customs (Bridges 1869, 1897MS). Though his perspective was clearly religious and not unbiased, the tone in the texts when addressing the Fuegian customs is quite balanced, and mostly avoided heavily value-laden terms. Moreover, in some cases he openly spoke in favour o f the aborigines and stood for the need o f their protection against the actions o f other Western people who were aiming to destroy them. Such protection was obviously structured upon his own criteria, which included, among other things, keeping the ownership o f the land he had acquired from the Argentinean government (estancia Harberton) when he retired from the mission, in which many Yâmana and also Selk’nam people who came from the north, found shelter and were hired to do jobs (Bridges 1886: 204). Later, one o f the sons o f Bridges, L. Bridges (1951), wrote a book retelling the story o f his father and family in Tierra del Fuego, and compiling a

vast set o f data about the Selk’nam and the Yâmana, including various photographs (see catalogue in appendix C). His approach to the aborigines customs was very positive, even suggesting that certain habits would be beneficial for the W estern society, although, in other eases, not lacking in ethnoeentrist comments.

The other group o f missionaries that was established in Tierra del Fuego was o f Catholic religion, and belonged to the Salesian order. One o f their principal missions was established in the northern section o f the Big Island, and worked with the Selk’nam (see table 2.2 and map 2). A great number o f missionaries spent time in the region, including father Fagnano, after whom the big lake o f Tierra del Fuego has been named. O f these, Beauvoir (1915), Cojazzi (1911), Borgatello (1929), an anonymous Salesian missionary (1914, in Belza 1974), and De Agostini (1924, 1941) gathered information from their own observations and also from other Salesian missionaries, especially Zenone. Their texts include written data about the Selk’nam language, clothing and ornamentation (including body painting), subsistence, initiation ceremonies, etc. The information is mostly presented in these texts as generalisations about the Selk’nam society and culture, and hardly ever do they include references to specific observations and dates. This is mostly due to the fact that such texts were prepared for publication, and hence, unlike the Anglican fragments o f diaries and letters, they mostly lack allusions to first-hand experiences. The texts are mainly descriptive, and combine very condescending terms towards the aborigines with open claims about the importance o f contributing to their defence from extinction together with their adaptation to new rules o f labour and religion, which, again, justifies the action o f the Salesian missions.

Photos o f the aborigines were also published by these authors, and were mostly taken by De Agostini. Such photographs clearly responded to an interest in documenting the ‘original and savage’ state o f the aborigines (hence, at least partly, showing and justifying the need o f the missionaries work), but also responded to De Agostini’s sense o f what should be photographed. Therefore, for example, he seems to have avoided scenes o f nudity (which were frequent in Selk’nam life), and, at the same time, maybe for this reason or to avoid photographing Fuegians wearing western clothes, he pictured (in photographs, and in his documentary film), Yâmana persons dressed as Selk’nam, although, as it will be shown in this thesis, they were still painted in Yâmana fashion (details o f the formation o f these records are presented and analysed in appendix B).

During the phase o f the establishment o f missions, a number o f expeditions to Tierra del Fuego were also carried out, with exploratory aims, either related to individuals interests, or to commissions by the Argentinean and Chilean governments. Various o f these expeditions

generated information about Fuegian body paintings: Bove (1883 a and b), Lovisato (1884) and Spegazzini (1882); Barclay (1904), Gallardo (1910) and Dabbene (1904 and 1911); and Lista (1887) and Segers (1891)"^, but their data are usually brief, and mixing the authors’ own first-hand observations with unacknowledged quotations mostly from the comments o f the Bridges family. Possibly the most extreme case o f such procedure is that o f Gallardo, who used information provided by L. Bridges without acknowledging it; L. Bridges had asked Gallardo not to mention his name in order to not upset the Selk’nam, who might think he had betrayed their confidence, yet Gallardo went beyond such request, and presented several anecdotes retold by L. Bridges as experienced by him self (L. Bridges 1951: 526). Gallardo also used pieces o f a photograph (possibly taken by Ojeda) published by Barclay (1904) to illustrate his book, without acknowledging that these were portions o f a bigger photograph, which had not been taken by himself (see details in appendix B).

This latter had mainly military-exploratory aims.

P late 2 .3 . First k n o w n v isu a l d o cu m en t o f S e lk ’n am fa cial p a in tin g s ( 8 7 9 , se e a lso 8 7 8 ).

Parallel to these exploratory expeditions, a third and final trend in the formation o f the records about Fuegian societies started to develop: it corresponded to the scientific expeditions^. The Mission Scientifique du Cap Horn was in charge o f a French team which spent a year (1882-1883) in Orange Bay, southern Tierra del Fuego. It was systematically carried out, and generated thorough ethnographic results about the Yâmana, including data about body painting. Ethnographic observations were recorded by the director o f the expedition. Martial (1888), and by Hyades, the doctor o f the expedition, who was specifically in charge o f such task (Hyades 1884, 1885, 1887, Hyades and Deniker 1891). The texts mostly consist o f thorough descriptions, and give little explanations elaborated about the observations. Also, great care was taken to quote the sources o f information (aboriginal interpreters/informants, missionaries such as Bridges) when this did not come from first hand observations. A great collection o f photographs was also produced by this mission (all those gathered in the Museé del Homme have been published by Chapman 1995), including a few of Yâmana individuals wearing body painting (see appendix C). These are the earliest visual records o f such designs, some o f which were worn until the XX century.

Later, within this trend o f scientific missions, individual ethnographers reached Tierra del Fuego to conduct their field-work. This possibly happened because travelling alone in the area may have become less risky than in previous times. These individual expeditions include Furlong (1917 a and b), Gusinde (see below), Koppers (1991 [1924]), Lothrop (1928), and Spencer (1951), who produced texts rich in written and visual information. Their tone and explanations differ in terms o f their theoretical frameworks, being much more environmentalist in Furlong’s case, and a mixture between evolutionism and certain cultural- relativist concepts in Lothrop’s case.

But it is clear that the most prolific individual ethnographer who worked in Tierra del Fuego is Gusinde (1919, 1929, 1922, 1924, 1931 [1982], 1937 [1986], 1951), who carried out four field-work seasons to the region: the three first lasted about 3 months each (December to M arch 1918-1919, 1920-1921, 1921-1922, in this latter, accompanied by Koppers, who made his own ethnographic records), and the last one about 17 months (December 1922 to April 1924). Gusinde was an Austrian priest who belonged to the Societas Verbi Divini. He did not visit the region to carry out missionary work, but to make ethnographic observations o f the Selk’nam, Yâmana, and Alacaluf societies. Gusinde received help and information from

^ A s noted above, previous expeditions which had wider aims, included scientists in their crews. These expeditions, instead, were m ostly and in some cases exclusively devoted to scientific observation. The term

Zenone (Salesian), and the Bridges and Lawrence families (Anglican), but in his text it is difficult to distinguish his observations from the information quoted from informants or from these sources. Moreover, his lengthy texts do include some internal contradictions which sometimes make the information questionable. He also produced a very vast photographic collection, o f great use for this project, and indeed the process o f its formation involves very meaningful events which not only disclose his own interests and intentions, but also those of the photographed subjects too (see chapter 4, and appendix B).

One o f Gusinde’s main aims was to prove that the Fuegians had a monotheist religion, since such a cultural feature would fit with his religious beliefs, and theoretical framework: being a follower o f W. Schmidt and the “Vienna school”, he expected to find that ‘archaic’ cultures were monotheist and that they had subsequently degenerated and been replaced by polytheist cultures (see appendix B). Yet in spite of such expected transformation, his explanations were constructed from an a-historical perspective, as if change had never happened, both constantly stretching the present observations to the past, and not