Aucaes exiled to the city: Slavery and Indigenous resilience in Santiago de Chile (17th century)

Abstract

This article explores the context and the historical vicissitudes of the Mapuche-Huilliche population that was captivated, enslaved, denaturalized, and destined to the capital of Chile in the 17^th century. Under the Quechua denomination auca, and after experiencing the violence of war and the uprooting from their deportation, this population would occupy a principal role in the indigenous population of the city. Considering that the majority were infants and women, domestic service was a principal channel of insertion, as were the urban jobs and agricultural tasks in the suburban chacras. An analysis is made of the process of resilient integration of these aucaes, who were forced to live in the city, a space characterized by a socio-ethnic plurality that allowed them to interact daily with diverse subaltern subjects (other Indians, afro descendants and mestizos, etc.). The article also explores the roles played by the Church and its sacramental and devout practices, as well as the urban trades, interpreted as spaces of rootedness, mobility, and reconstruction of identities. Lastly, and in conclusion, the article presents the case of an indigenous sorcerer who, as early as the beginning of the 18^th century, incorporated into his practices a series of signs and experiences, inherited from the historical hybridization that resulted from that forced secular immigration and its incorporation into the colonial sphere.