When one thinks of hunter-gatherer societies, remote forested areas and open plains come to mind. The Gran Chaco of northern Argentina, central Paraugay, and eastern Bolivia fits that description well. In fact, the term Chaco itself is generally through to be derived form a Quechua word designating the entire region as hunting grounds. The largest population (approximately twenty-five thousand) of hunter-gatherers living today in the Argentine portion of the Gran Chaco are the Toba, or Qom, as they call themselves. They have survived throughout the twentieth century by hunting and collecting wild fruits and vegetables, even while working for wages in lumber mills, on sugar plantations, and in cotton fields.
Individual Toba males first began to work for wages in the eastern Chaco more than a century ago, during the 1860s, cutting down tress for newly established sawmills. Later in the century, men were also transported to Salta and Jujuy for seasonal labor as harvesters on sugarcane plantations. Throughout the twentieth century, Toba families increasingly have come to rely on wages earned by hoeing and picking cotton on the farms of newly arrived colonists from Europe (Spain, Germany, and eastern Europe) and from within Argentina, who staked out land claims that restricted the Toba's ability to hunt and gather. Adult males worked in the lumber and sugarcane industries, often separated from their families for extended periods.
During the past twenty-five years, however, thousands of Toba have migrated to cities, not only in the northern Chaco and Formosa provinces, but also to distant Rosario and Buenos Aires. While many are transients who remain only during the difficult winter moths, an increasing number make the urban villas (slums) their primary residence. Accurate data are unavailable and hard to acquire given the amount of movement back and forth throughout the year. However, it may be confidently estimated that at present, approximately half of the Argentine Toba make urban settlements their home during some portion of the year.
The economic roots of migration
The impetus for Toba migrations to cities is to be found in the political economy of the region, which became increasingly populated by colonists throughout this century. As game was killed off and major landholdings fenced in, access to traditional food resources became increasingly restricted and the Toba became ever more dependent upon jobs in cotton fields for their subsistence needs. During the latter half of this century, however, the nature of cotton production changed in the Chaco owing to mechanization, soil depletion, crop diversification, and importations from Brazil. As a result, the Toba were left without a consistent means of income at a time when hunting and collecting resources were in serious decline.
Meanwhile, improved medical facilities were provided by provincial governments, and gradually utilized by the Toba, so that a larger number of children survived birth and early childhood, resulting in a population explosion precisely when resources were constricting. These combined factors encouraged an ever-larger number of Toba to migrate to cities in search of alternative means of subsistence. An added attraction of the city is ready access to food and after resources, particularly during the winter dry season. Many Toba women also are reluctant to return to rural areas, where they must sometimes walk two or more miles to carry
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