Indigenous in the city: the politics of urban Mapuche identity in Chile

ABSTRACT

In this article, I analyse how urban Mapuche indigenous organizations in Chile conduct politics, both externally in relation to the state and internally in relation to other Mapuches. I suggest that the state creates the context for their politics through enacting centuries of policies that put Mapuche identity ‘under siege’. My analysis shows that urban Mapuche organizations respond to this context in three central ways. Some organizations refuse the moniker ‘urban’ and are temporarily urban. Others embrace their urbanity and are adamantly urban. Still others try to overcome the rural-urban divide to become reconciled urban. Each of these strategies deploys ideas of authenticity in different ways, opening possibilities for different kinds of political alliances. My research argues that when the stakes are high for claiming a racial or ethnic identity, choosing which aspects of identity on which to base political demands has profound political consequences.

KEYWORDS:

• Indigenous
• Chile
• identity
• authenticity
• urban
• citizenship

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Gay Seidman and Mara Loveman for their help in the early stages of this research, my colleagues at Lewis & Clark College who have given excellent feedback and the anonymous reviewer whose suggestions strengthened the argument.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. For example, the Navajo Nation recently engaged in deep debates about the level of language fluency leaders must possess. See http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/13/the-future-of-navajo-nation-depends-on-the-election-issue-everyone-should-be-talking-about. Accessed October 13, 2014.

2. See http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=13599&LangID=E. Accessed March 25, 2015.

3. Fieldnotes January 5, 2008.

4. See the National Socioeconomic Characteristics Survey (Encuesta de Caracterización Socioeconómica Nacional, CASEN) carried out in 2011, http://observatorio.ministeriodesarrollosocial.gob.cl/layout/doc/casen/Pueblos_Indigenas_Casen_2011.pdf and http://www.ministeriodesarrollosocial.gob.cl/pdf/upload/DOCUMENTO_PUEBLOS_INDIGENAS_RMS_CASEN_2011.pdf. Accessed February 10, 2015.

5. The idea of the Mapuch-o-meter (mapuchómetro) is attributed to the cartoonist Pedro Melinao who penned a cartoon in 2006 showing a machine that measured an individual’s percentage of Mapuche identity, a direct critique of the state policies at the time that were used to determine whether someone could register as Mapuche on the national indigenous register (Millaleo 2014).

6. Fieldnotes April 29, 2008.

7. This was not the first time this term had been used but was a clear valorization and appropriation of the term. The first use of the word wariache to describe Mapuches in Santiago is credited to Ancán (1994; cited in Imilán 2010).

8. Interview October 17, 2007.

9. Winka is a Mapuche word used to describe non-Mapuche people. It literally means ‘thief’ in Mapuzugun and is often used in a derogatory way.

10. Interview October 17, 2007.

11. See Werken: Tañi Warria for a full article about the need for micro-enterprise training.

12. ENAMA is an acronym taken from the first letters of the words Encuentro Nacional Mapuche (National Mapuche Conference).

13. See http://www.enama.cl/. Accessed February 4, 2015.

14. See note 13.

15. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jssPIgFg8Is&feature=youtu.be for the video. Accessed November 15, 2014.

16. See http://mapuexpress.org/2014/11/26/enama-la-farsa-multicultural-financiada-por-el-gobierno-y-empresas#sthash.bL75a3hG.dpbs. Accessed February 1, 2015.

17. http://www.mapuexpress.net/content/publications/print.php?id=6536. Accessed February 16, 2015.

18. http://www.mapuche.info/print.php?pagina=3381. Accessed February 16, 2015.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowship.