Lorena Beatriz Rodriguez

Lorena Beatriz Rodríguez obtained her doctorate in anthropological sciences, specialising in sociocultural studies, at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). She is a professor at UBA and an independent researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET). She is also the editor of the journal Memoria Americana, Cuadernos de Etnohistoria, published by the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters at UBA. Her research, situated within the field of historical anthropology, focuses on the colonial and republican history of indigenous peoples in north-western Argentina, the development of mining projects in the 19th century in western Catamarca, and the epistemology of archival work.

The project

Title: Ethnic otherness, mining projects, and resources. Catamarca (Argentina), from colony to republic

"This research examines how ethnic difference was managed during the transition from the colonial period to Argentine independence, and in the subsequent process of nation-state building and consolidation. In recent years, I have approached this question through the lens of mining activities, which served not only as a driver of conquest and colonisation but also as discursive pillars within the framework of capitalist industrialisation. Analysing mining projects in the present-day province of Catamarca demonstrates that ethnic distinctions inherited from the colonial period, although formally abolished, persisted and were renewed in the 19th century through everyday social practices in mining work.

More recently, I have observed that these structures were maintained and justified in the name of "progress", developing amid multiple material and symbolic struggles among the various actors involved, particularly regarding access to land, and the availability and use of water and forest resources. These "resources" are now the focus of my work.

I aim to problematise this concept by drawing on indigenous conceptualisations while also integrating various theoretical debates, including those linked to the Anthropocene. This approach will not only allow for a study of the development of 19th-century industrial mining activities and their social, economic, and ecological impacts, but also provide an assessment of the radical transformation triggered by the arrival of the Spanish and the deployment of extractive mining activities, particularly for precious metals, whose consequences have persisted and deepened continuously to the present day."

Hosting institution: Sorbonne Université

Selective Bibliography

• 2025. "Por la ‘huella del mineral’... Caminos y experiencias del andar en Catamarca (argentina), segunda mitad del siglo XIX". Relaciones de la SAA, 50. Buenos Aires, Argentina. Enlace.
• 2024. Sobre comunidades, archivos y fuentes. Experiencias y reflexiones desde un abordaje interdisciplinario, antropología e historia. Coeditora junto con Roxana Boixados. Buenos Aires, Sociedad Argentina de Antropología. Enlace
• 2021. "Un emprendimiento minero ‘al estilo inglés’: materialidades, cuerpos y disciplina en Catamarca (Argentina), siglo XIX". Estudios Atacameños 67 (15): 1-30. San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. Enlace.
• 2019. Más allá de la extinción. Identidades indígenas en la Argentina criolla, siglos XVIII-XX. Y una reseña comparativa con Bolivia, Paraguay, Chile y México. Coeditora junto a Diego Escolar. Buenos Aires, Editorial Sb.
• 2016. Altérités indiennes dans la province de Tucumán lors du passage de la colonie à la République. Une approche de la configuration de la matrice identitaire provinciale. En López Caballero, Paula y Christophe Giudicelli (comps.); Régimes nationaux d’altérité. États-nation et altérité autochtone en Amérique latine, 1810-1950: 93-113. Rennes, Presses Universitaires de Rennes.