Estado, sociedad civil y prácticas corporales en la construcción de la nacionalidad. San Carlos de Bariloche. 1920-1945

Abstract

This current work is part of a research project called “Bodies, education and leisure time in the cons- truction of the processes of territorial identities. The Northern Patagonia Andean region 1884-1945”.

The nationalist discourses generated in the schools during the first decades if the 20th Century, acqui- red a special meaning in the National Territories of Patagonia, due to the fact that here the Chilean and indigenous population was in the majority and also because all the eastern strip was a frontier zone, at a time when the state discourse prioritized the defence of territorial sovereignty.

At the same time, discourses about the body were oriented to disciplining and controlling corporeal/ bodily practices in the context of the formation of a national identity. In order to reach these aims, in addition to the actions put in practice at schools a number of civil society actions were added through a comprehensive scheme of activities in a non-educational environment but with identical strategies, that is the standardisation and unification (?) of behaviours.

Our aim is to investigate how the policies of the state and civil society influence the way in which bodily practices operate.

With this aim we have analysed books on the history of the main stream schools and official docu- ments, including the memories of and conclusions drawn by members of the organizations Friends of the National Parks Association2[1] and the Social Centre Ayekan-Ruca in San Carlos de Bariloche3[2].