Ángela Loij López[1] (c. 1900 – 18 May 1974), baptized as Ángela Gómez, was an Argentine-Chilean woman considered to be the last surviving individual of full-blooded Selk'nam (Ona) descent, an indigenous group that resided in Tierra del Fuego.
Ángela Loij | |
|---|---|
 Loij as photographed in 1966 | |
| Born | c. 1900 Río Grande Department, Argentina |
| Died | 18 May 1974 (aged c. 74) |
| Spouses |
José Isaías Ule
(m. 1955; died 1969) |
| Children | 3 |
As a young woman, she married Nelson Qànqòt, a Haush baptized by missionaries as Toribio, with whom she had two daughters and a son: Víctor Nelson (born 1919), Laura Soto (born 1922), and Luisa Nelson (born 1926). She participated in a traditional Hain ceremony documented in 1924 by Austrian ethnologist Martin Gusinde.[2] During the late 1930s, she joined missionaries and was baptized to leave her conflictive relationship with her husband. All three of her children died in 1938 of tuberculosis without further descendants.[2][3] In 1955, she married José Isaías Ule, a young Chilean worker who died in 1969, after which she inherited his house, where she lived on until he died.
In her later years, she was studied by anthropologist Anne Chapman.[4] Loij was born at the Estancia Sara ranch, north of Río Grande, where her father, Loij, worked as a shepherd.[5] She had one brother, Pascual. Her grand-niece, Amalia Gudiño, became a nurse and was elected as a deputy in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies in 1995, becoming the first indigenous person to serve as a deputy in Argentina.[6][7][2] Loij was found dead in her home in May 1974, victim of a stroke she suffered at dawn.[3] A school in the Río Grande Department was named in her honour.[1]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Frites 2011, p. 35.
- ^ a b c Chapman, Anne. Fin de un mundo: los selknam de Tierra del Fuego.
- ^ a b Baldassarre, Carlos (2007-12-01). "La aculturación de Ángela Loij a través de su imagen fotográfica" [The acculturation of Angela Loij through her photographic image]. rchav.cl (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-05-25.
- ^ "Angela Loij". Research Institute for the Study of Man – The Reed Foundation. 27 May 1975. Archived from the original on 14 September 2023. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
- ^ Katz, Ricardo Santiago (14 October 2004). "Angela Loij: la última ona" [Angela Loij: The last Ona]. Agencia Nova (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.
- ^ "Amalia Gudiño: "Verlo crecer es como si fuera el hijo de uno"" [Amalia Gudiño: "Watching him grow up is as if he were one's son"]. Radio Nacional (in Spanish). 10 October 2023. Archived from the original on 16 October 2023.
- ^ "Homenaje a la diputada (mc) Amalia Gudiño" [Tribute to the deputy (MC) Amalia Gudiño]. El Sureño (in Spanish). 2 April 2023. Archived from the original on 8 November 2024.
Works cited
edit- Frites, Eulogio (2011). El derecho de los pueblos indígenas [The rights of indigenous peoples] (PDF) (in Spanish).
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