Political Recognition through the Mapuche in Santiago

Abstract

In Chile, political activity is half-hearted when aimed at indigenous peoples in regards with their specificity, and it scarcely recognizes their specific political and cultural features. This creates tension between the demands for the recognition of diversity, in contrast with the protection of the common good, blind to the difference. Today, a third of the Mapuche population lives in Santiago, making the origin and aim of the demands for political recognition more complex, posing questions regarding the reconfiguration of identities in a dynamic and heterogeneous context which is cut off from the territories that have been historically reclaimed. Data was obtained through qualitative and inductive methodology. The results show an urban setting where there is a shift from the historical demands disseminated by the Mapuche movements towards discourses that demonstrate the distinctive features of life in the capital of Chile. These political demands seek self-determined, autonomous or representative space to guarantee the survival their culture, and they hold expectations that posit the need for the State and local governments to modify the conditions that today make their distinctive features invisible and hinder their impact in the political sphere at a national and local level.