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ABSTRACT
Since the 1990s, the participation of Indigenous peoples in tourism has been fostered as part of global development policies to address rural poverty in Latin America. In this article, our aim is to examine the promotion of indigenous tourism in relation to multicultural transformations and local inter-ethnic relations in South America, taking two experiences, one in southern Chile’s Araucanía Region and the other in the General San Martín Department of northern Argentina’s Salta Province. We reflect on the relevance of institutions – state and non-state – which promote these development perspectives and the links that Indigenous people establish with them for the understanding of indigenous tourism. First, we consider the promotion of indigenous tourism in both countries within the particular dynamics of multiculturalism transformations in each one. Then we focus on the two experiences of indigenous tourism, to think about the relations between Indigenous people, institutions and interethnic relationships in these projects. We suggest that the definition of community tourism should not be considered as a reified field, but rather as a definition that is determined through negotiations and inter-ethnic disputes.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
2 Other initiatives to foster tourism with Indigenous communities in the region have previously been attempted (one of them financed by the World Bank) but did not reach the implementation stage.
3 This law ordered a survey of the situation of lands occupied by Indigenous communities – to be carried out by the INAI in conjunction with provincial institutions – and the suspension of sentences and legal proceedings that would have meant dispossession (albeit without providing ownership deeds).
4 It should also be noted that the tourism group’s access to funds and resources, along with the prominence and prestige it has acquired, has fueled conflict between the Indigenous and non-indigenous population.
5 On 17 October 2020, Law N° 21.273 came into force, modifying the Indigenous Law and recognizing the Chango as an Indigenous people, taking the total recognized by law to ten.
6 Calidad Indígena (Indigenous Status) is a certificate issued by the National Corporation for Indigenous Development (CONADI), accrediting that a person, community or association belongs to one of the ten Indigenous peoples recognized by law in Chile: Mapuche, Aymara, Rapa Nui, Atacameña, Quechua, Colla, Diaguita, Kawashkar, Yagán and Chango. To obtain this certificate, it is necessary to be the child of an indigenous father or mother (including by adoption); to have at least one indigenous surname or demonstrate descent over at least three generations; maintain the practices or ways of life, customs or religion of an Indigenous people; have an indigenous spouse and self-identify as indigenous.
7 The National Tax Service (SII) is the government service responsible for levying all domestic taxes in Chile.
8 Traditional Mapuche house.
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Notes on contributors
Cecilia Benedetti
Cecilia Benedetti is a Researcher at the Argentine National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) and an Assistant Professor of the Anthropological Sciences Department at the School of Philosophy and Arts, University of Buenos Aires. Her research is based on the exploration of identity processes and inter-ethnic relationships under the multicultural policies in Argentina. Her interests focus on the fields of heritage, indigenous peoples, culture and development, as well as indigenous policies.
Katherine Meneses
Katherine Meneses Jiménez is a Research Assistant at Centro de Estudios Interculturales e Indígenas (CIIR), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Her research interests include tourism, public policy and indigenous people.