Were the Chiriguano a Colonial Fabrication?

Abstract

The historical origins of the Guaraní who live in what is now Bolivia are condensed into what, for this chapter, I will refer to the Chiriguano Thesis. In short, the Chiriguano thesis suggests that these western-most Guaraní speakers are not, in fact, Guaraní. Rather, it is argued, they are Chiriguano, the result of ethnogenetic fusion between Guaraní peoples who invaded from the east and Arawak-speaking Chané peoples who were already living in the Andean foothills and valleys. In this chapter I argue that given the linguistic evidence, the Chiriguano thesis is at best deeply problematic. In many of its expressions, it is apocryphal, having emerged from colonial narratives. I point out the limitations of the thesis in its crude form, and offer observations on the need for rethinking histories of contact and exchange in the western Chaco.