Toba

The Toba people from the west of the province of Formosa (Argentina) inhabit a geographical area belonging to the semi-arid Chaco region. A group of about 2,000, they consider themselves different from other Toba groups. However, they are closely related to those ‘other Toba’ and to other members of the guaycurú linguistic family (mocoví, pilagá, caduvéo and the extinct abipón, payaguá and mbayá). Traditionally, the subsistence activities of the Toba have been based on hunting, fishing, gathering and a very precarious basic agriculture, still carried out in those villages most distant from urban centres. The beginning of the twentieth century marked the onset of a cultural change process due to the increasing influence of white people in their area. In spite of this transformation, some features of their traditional lifestyle persist, as well as the full use of their native language. This work presents the results of an ethno-ornithological investigation aimed mainly at knowing how the Toba name, perceive, conceive, use and relate to birds in their natural environment. This subject is part of a broader ethno-biologic research carried out since 1983, which includes other nature-related topics. The methodological principle used was to apply the ethno scientific methods, with their dual perspective: the emic approach (the actor’s view) and the etic approach (the analysis performed by the researcher through technical and interpretative resources). The investigation plan was carried out through field work consisting of interviews, participant observation and biological material collection, among other techniques. For the specific subject of birds, these also included bird watching and observation of skins, photographs and pictures of the local ornithofauna. The information obtained was subsequently organized, analyzed and interpreted in the researcher’s cabinet, where the biological material collected was identified as well. Results are presented in two sections: I) An outline of the diverse cultural and social spheres in which the bird’s specific roles are situated; and II) A species directory which details all the information gathered for each entity. The species directory comprises 169 native and naturalized taxons, 7 domesticated exotic species and 20 ornithological entities that couldn’t be identified. Birds have been of great importance in the life of the Toba people because of their usage, representations and meanings. Their singing and behavior, as well as their feathers, eggs, bones and meat, among other features, had – and still have – ample implications for the life of this people. The list of chapters is as follows: 1) Preface, 2) Acknowledgements, 3) Introduction, 4) Materials and Methodology, 5) The Toba and their Natural Environment, 6) Birds in the Life of the Toba, 7) Representation of Birds, 8) Usage of Birds, 9) Birds and Subsistence, 10) Material Culture,  11) Other Roles of Birds or their Parts, 12) Nomenclature for Bird Morphology, 13) Vernacular Names and Classificatory Systems, 14) Bird Directory, 15) The Toba’s Knowledge about Birds, 16) Bibliography, 17) Index of Toba and Scientific Names; 18) Index of Scientific and Vernacular Spanish Names.

El presente Trabajo Final de Graduación, requisito para la obtención del titulo de la Licenciatura en Trabajo Social de la Universidad Nacional de Lujan, intenta diagnosticar, a partir de las “voces” de los sujetos, la situación de Vulneración de Derechos de una comunidad Qom (Toba) del Conurbano Bonaerense. En el mismo, se realiza una contextualización cultural, histórica y legislativa de la situación de los Pueblos Originarios y el pueblo Qom en particular, que aporte a la comprensión de la situación de la comunidad estudiada. Luego, se plantea una descripción de la comunidad y su situación de Vulneración de derechos, explicando los problemas desde las perspectivas y vivencias de sus integrantes. En tercer lugar,  se realiza una reflexión sobre los Problemas Sociales y Derechos Vulnerados, sean identificados o no por los miembros de la comunidad, y considerando las relaciones existentes entre los mismos. Por otra parte, se plantea una reflexión del rol profesional del Trabajo Social con Pueblos Originarios y en espacios interculturales, identificando obstáculos y desafíos para la profesión. Y finalmente se presentan las conclusiones del trabajo y  las líneas posibles de acción frente a estas vulneraciones.

Voluminous rhyolitic eruptions from Toba, Indonesia, and Taupo Volcanic Zone (TVZ), New Zealand have dispersed volcanic ash over vast areas in the late Quaternary. The ∼74 ka Youngest Toba Tuff (YTT) eruption deposited ash over the Bay of Bengal and the Indian subcontinent to the west. The ∼340 ka Whakamaru eruption (TVZ) deposited the widespread Rangitawa Tephra, dominantly to the southeast (in addition to occurrences northwest of vent), extending across the landmass of New Zealand, and the South Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea with distal terrestrial exposures on the Chatham Islands. These super-eruptions involved ∼2500 km3 and ∼1500 km3 of magma (dense-rock equivalent; DRE), respectively.Ultra-distal terrestrial exposures of YTT at two localities in India, Middle Son Valley, Madhya Pradesh, and Jurreru River Valley, Andhra Pradesh, at distances of >2000 km from the source caldera, show a basal ‘primary’ ashfall unit ∼4 cm thick, although deposits containing reworked ash are up to ∼3 m in total thickness. Exposures of Rangitawa Tephra on the Chatham Islands, >900 km from the source caldera, are ∼15–30 cm thick. At more proximal localities (∼200 km from source), Rangitawa Tephra is ∼55–70 cm thick and characterized by a crystal-rich basal layer and normal grading. Both distal tephra deposits are characterized by very-fine ash (with high PM10 fractions) and are crystal-poor.Glass chemistry, stratigraphy and grain-size data for these distal tephra deposits are presented with comparisons of their correlation, dispersal and preservation. Using field observations, ash transport and deposition were modeled for both eruptions using a semi-analytical model (HAZMAP), with assumptions concerning average wind direction and strength during eruption, column shape and vent size. Model outputs provide new insights into eruption dynamics and better estimates of eruption volumes associated with tephra fallout. Modeling based on observed YTT distal tephra thicknesses indicate a relatively low (<40 km high), very turbulent eruption column, consistent with deposition from a co-ignimbrite cloud extending over a broad region. Similarly, the Whakamaru eruption was modeled as producing a predominantly Plinian column (∼45 km high), with dispersal to the southeast by strong prevailing winds. Significant ash fallout of the main dispersal direction, to the northwest of source, cannot be replicated in this modeling. The widespread dispersal of large volumes of fine ash from both eruptions may have had global environmental consequences, acutely affecting areas up to thousands of kilometers from vent.

En 1844 Enrique Van Nivel dirigió una expedición fluvial y terrestre en el río Pilcomayo, en busca de una salida hacia Paraguay. Muy temprano todos los comentaristas advirtieron las exageraciones y falsedades de su diario de viaje en cuanto a distancia recorrida y número de indígenas. Este artículo se interesa por otro aspecto igualmente amañado de su diario, en el que echa la culpa de su fracaso a los indígenas en general y a su guía toba Yumay en particular.

Arenas, P. 2000. La alimentación tradicional y sus cambios entre dos etnias del Gran Chaco: los mataco-lhoko'tax y toba-pilagá, pp. 31-56.  In: M. Gutiérrez Estévez (ed.), Sustentos, aflicciones y postrimerías de los indios de América. Casa de América, Madrid, 468 pp.

Resumen: Se estudia la alimentación tradicional y sus cambios en dos grupos indígenas del Chaco semiárido argentino: los mataco-lhoko’tax (wichi) y toba-pilagá (qom ñachilamole’ek). Se menciona y describe la geografía y los rasgos socioculturales de ambos pueblos, sus actividades subsistenciales en el pasado, los cambios y los factores que intervinieron en las transformaciones. Se hace una síntesis de la situación actual.

El objetivo de este artículo es profundizar en el estudio de los morfemas de parentesco ´madre´ y ´padre´ en toba explorando su función específica en la clasificación de nombres. Los morfemas de parentesco en esta lengua constituyen un rico y complejo tema de estudio y han despertado el interés de estudios tanto lingüísticos como antropológicos y etnobiológicos. El trabajo se propone precisar los aspectos formales, semánticos y funcionales de los morfemas léxicos lateʔe ´madre´ y ltaʔa ´padre´. Mostraremos que los mismos participan de manera productiva en la formación de nombres compuestos y poseen una función destacada no solo en la identificación de entidades sino también en la conformación de dominios léxicos. A su vez, evidenciamos que, además de su función derivacional, participan en la categorización de los nombres. La complejidad de su significado radica en que estas formas codifican las nociones de semejanza, aproximación y no-prototipicalidad junto a la de aumentativo.The a...