Les métis les plus purs

The starting point of this article is the thesis developed in 1991 by Isabelle Combès and Thierry Saignes about the birth of Chiriguano ethnicity and identity, both mixed "in essence". However, the Chiriguano and the Chané appear to maintain a paradoxical relationship with miscegenation. Although considered paradigmatic examples of Amerindian miscegenation, some contemporaries anticipate the dissolution of these ethnic groups precisely because of their mixture with whites. At the same time, the Chiriguano themselves reject any idea of mixture, proclaiming themselves to be simply "Guarani". Based on a comparative case study of the Bolivian Isoso and the Argentinean Northwest, the article casts doubt on the idea of the complete absorption of the Chané into the Chiriguano. It then analyses the different types of miscegenation and their relation to an asymmetrical schema that creates a scale of values between different ethnic groups. Finally, it suggests that the ideological ambivalence surrounding miscegenation is precisely due to the fact that it is a hybrid construct, the product of fusion between Chané and Guarani ideologies.