Yagan Heritage in Tierra del Fuego (Argentina): The Politics of Balance

Abstract

This paper analyses the tangible and intangible Yagan heritage contents exhibited by the Museo del Fin del Mundo (MFM, Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina) and presented during its guided tour led by Yagan Community Counsellor Victor Vargas Filgueira. We show how the critical outlook of Fuegian history offered in the latter challenges the traditional past-only fossilized view of the Yagan, building past–present links and helping to overcome biased hegemonic discourses. We also discuss how employing a member of the Yagan Community at the MFM has been an efficient and low-budget strategy that helps to comply with some Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which are difficult to attain in developing countries. Significant outcomes of this process include: (a) providing a full-time formal job to a member of an Indigenous Community who has been traditionally dispossessed of/in their own territory; (b) acknowledging him as a knowledge holder and valuable member of society; (c) moving the role of Yagan People from subject to agent of the MFM. This process has fostered the dialogue between Yagan voices and academic discourses, challenging traditional Western dichotomies-ecology/economy, natural/cultural heritage, and so forth, and contributing to the discussion of key concepts on sustainability and engagement.