TESTIMONIOS AS AUTOBIOGRAPHY. DAILY LIFE AND BELIEFS AMONG THE WICHÍ IN THE ARGENTINE CHACO

The Wichí, since the beginning of the XX century have witnessed a succession of the Propaganda Fide Franciscan missions, of the Anglican and the Pentecostal missions: today they are living in a complex stratified religious universe between different churches and what literature defines ‘ethnic churches’. In particular the formal features of the narratives of the recording of these conversions and the scenario of these records follow an autobiographical pattern that takes up certain specific, traditional modes of narration. But the local concept of conversion, as well as the socio-political implications of these records must be taken into consideration to e able to formulate certain hypotheses on the ‘local’ and the ‘global’ value of conversion. The aim of the paper will be that of reflecting on the scope of indigenization” of conversion and on today’s sense and meaning of conversions both within the iglesia evangelica unida, an ethnic church dating beck to the seventies, and within the Anglican Church. An attempt will be made to outline the various gradations of conversion within the two ‘professions of faith’, and at the same time the various connotations the latter have in relation to generations and gender will be focussed on.