The Guarani under Spanish Rule in the Rio de la Plata (review)

Unlike many Indian groups in South America who are best understood in exclusion from the European world, the Guaraní of Paraguay and northeastern Argentina had a complex, many-sided history of interactions with their Spanish and Portuguese neighbors. Their tendency toward intermarriage and political alliance and their willingness to share language, food culture, religion, and economic systems make the Guaraní particularly interesting, and, for the historian, particularly challenging. How can one best assess a group that is part Indian and part something else? Ganson's study of the Guaraní from 1750 to 1800 provides much of the answer and should be celebrated as a real benchmark.

Ganson argues that the Guaraní—by which she mainly means the Mission Indians of Paraguay—were not mere instruments in the hands of the Jesuit order or of the Spanish state. Quite the contrary, the Indians fundamentally shaped historical reality in the region, leading rather than being led during the critical period before independence. This is an attractive thesis, sustained by an array of fascinating detail. Ganson has combed archives in Europe and South America to find documentation that provides color at every juncture, as well as clear proof of Indian agency. Her analysis of the effects of the 1767 Jesuit expulsion is especially nuanced, roundly depicting the Indians' response. The Guaraní were able, though at once indecisive, confused, hopeful, and dispairing—in short, a people torn in contradictory directions. Presenting them this way, and often in their own words, restores to the Guaraní the humanity that they have long lacked in the scholarship. Ganson's Guaraníes are not simple victims or red-skinned caricatures; they are creators and sustainers of a vibrant culture.

Ganson's work is not without its defects. She tends to see such leaders as Nicolás Ñeengirú and Sepé Tiarajú as always acting from virtuous communitarian motives. But these individuals had mixed records. Sheer self-interest often inclined them to collude with secular administrators—an alliance that deserves some exploration. Also, though the Guaraní clearly did retain a measure of their pre-Columbian religious beliefs even well into the eighteenth century, it may be excessive to speak of a "blending" of Catholic and Indian rituals and symbolism. After all, some cultural affectations that on first examination appear to be of local origin turn out to have more in common with the Spanish peasantry than with the pre-Columbian Guaraní. Finally, given that the rural inhabitants of today's Paraguay all speak a variation of the Indian language, it is worthwhile asking where the Indian culture leaves off and the Paraguayan culture begins. Ganson has given us a good start in answering this question, but we still crave more.