Esperienze e rappresentazioni indigene dell' "alterità" nel Gran Chaco Argentino

In this article, I reflect on the ‘experience of strangeness’ among Wichí indi- genous communities of the Argentine Gran Chaco (Salta Province), located along the banks of the Pilcomayo River. Based on long-term ethnography, my analysis starts from the native memories of the encounter with the gaucho, who embodies the historical prototype of ‘otherness’, to reflect on the links between words and experience. The collective representations of the ‘foreigner’ and his descendants, the criollos, shows the complex cultural construction of difference and the relatio- nal character of identity, evoking indigenous agency to face critical social moments and cultural dilemmas.