Rubble - The afterlife of destruction

330 Pages·2016·2.98 MB·English

by  Gastón R. Gordillo

RUBBLE

RUBBLE

The Afterlife of Destruction
Gastón R. Gordillo
duke university press
durham and london | 2014
© 2014 Duke University Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper ∞
Typeset in Minion by Copperline Book Services, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gordillo, Gastón.
Rubble : the afterlife of destruction / Gastón R. Gordillo.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-8223-5619-6 (pbk : alk. paper)
isbn 978-0-8223-5614-1 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Gran Chaco—Antiquities. 2. Ruins, Modern—
Gran Chaco. 3. Rubble—Gran Chaco. 4. Indians of
South America—Gran Chaco—Government relations.
5. Collective memory—Gran Chaco. I. Title.
f2876.g67 2014
982'.301—dc23 2014001932
Duke University Press gratefully acknowledges the support of
the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada,
which provided funds toward the publication of this book.
Frontis: Detail of map of the Gran Chaco
by Father Joaquin Camaño (1789).
Cover: AP Photo / Natacha Pisarenko
For Shaylih

Mankind is merely the experimental material, the
tremendous surplus of failures: a field of ruins.
—Friedrich Nietzsche, The Will to Power
Only in traces and ruins . . . is there ever hope of
coming across genuine and just reality.
—Theodor Adorno, “The Actuality of Philosophy”

Contents
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction: Constellations 1
Part One | Ghosts of Indians
One A Haunted Frontier 31
Two On the Edge of the Void 53
Part Two | Lost Cities
The Destruction of Space 77
Three Land of Curses and Miracles 85
Four The Ruins of Ruins 111
Part Three | Residues of a Dream World
Treks across Fields of Rubble 125
Five Ships Stranded in the Forest 131
Six Bringing a Destroyed Place Back to Life 153
Seven Railroads to Nowhere 169