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A Nation Divided: Building the Cross-Border Mapuche Nation in Chile and Argentina

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2013

SARAH WARREN
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Abstract

In Chile and Argentina, indigenous Mapuche intellectuals contend that there is a single Mapuche nation that spans the Chile–Argentina border. When Mapuche people talk about the Mapuche nation and create symbols to represent it, however, they can mean both the Mapuche nation within the Chilean and Argentine state borders and the cross-border Mapuche nation. The dual nature of this project raises important theoretical questions about the nation-building process. In this article, I argue that Mapuche activists are engaging in a multi-scalar geopolitical imagination. They are imagining the geographic, political and cultural elements of the Mapuche nation at two scales simultaneously: within nation-state borders and across them. The overlapping and contested nature of this process means that the nation-building project is full of new tensions and constraints. However, it is also an example of ‘thinking otherwise’ and imagining an alternative sense of national belonging.

Spanish abstract

En Chile y Argentina, intelectuales mapuches afirman que hay una sola nación mapuche que se extiende por la frontera entre ambos países. Cuando los mapuches hablan de la nación mapuche y crean símbolos que la representan, sin embargo, pueden referirse tanto a la nación mapuche al interior de los bordes chilenos y argentinos o a la nación transfronteriza mapuche. La naturaleza doble de este proyecto plantea cuestiones teóricas importantes acerca del proceso de construcción nacional. En este artículo, sostengo que los activistas mapuches se encuentran involucrados dentro de un imaginario geopolítico de escala múltiple. Ellos están imaginando los elementos geográficos, políticos y culturales y la combinación de todos. La naturaleza entremezclada y cuestionada de este proceso significa que el proyecto de construcción nacional se encuentra lleno de nuevas tensiones y limitaciones. Sin embargo, también funciona como ejemplo de un pensamiento diferente desde donde imaginar un sentimiento alternativo de pertenencia nacional.

Portuguese abstract

No Chile e na Argentina, intelectuais indígenas Mapuche defendem a existência de uma só nação Mapuche que atravessa a fronteira entre o Chile e a Argentina. Quando indígenas Mapuche falam sobre a nação Mapuche e criam símbolos para representá-la, porém, podem estar se referindo à nação Mapuche dentro das fronteiras dos estados do Chile e da Argentina ou à nação Mapuche transnacional. A natureza dual deste projeto levanta importantes questões teóricas acerca do processo de construção de nações. Neste artigo, argumento que ativistas Mapuche estão se engajando com uma imaginação de múltiplas escalas geopolíticas. Estão simultaneamente imaginando os elementos geográficos, políticos e culturais da nação Mapuche em duas escalas: dentro das fronteiras dos estados-nação e além destas. A natureza imbricada e contestada deste processo resulta em um projeto de construção nacional repleto de tensões e restrições. No entanto, também é um exemplo de outra maneira de pensar e de imaginar um sentimento alternativo de pertencimento nacional.

Keywords

MapucheChileArgentinanation-buildingimagined communityindígenasmovimientos socialesnacionalismosímbolos nacionalesindígenamovimentos sociaisnacionalismosímbolos nacionais
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Latin American Studies , Volume 45 , Issue 2 , May 2013 , pp. 235 - 264
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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References

1 I use country modifiers (Chilean or Argentine) to differentiate the place of residence of different Mapuche activists and intellectuals, and because the difference in political processes associated with the two countries is important to my argument. However, not all people I interviewed would define themselves by country; many would prefer to be identified simply as Mapuche.

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21 Ibid., p. 12.

22 This research is based on three visits to Argentina and Chile, between 2003 and 2009, the longest of which lasted ten months. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 62 people from a wide range of organisations, including some involved in early attempts to connect Mapuche people across the Chile–Argentina border and others whose participation is more current, both in organisations devoted to cultural revival and political organisations. Interviews were also conducted with Mapuche and non-Mapuche people who work in government agencies and NGOs that deal with issues related to Mapuche people, culture, language, rights and education. All interviews took place in Spanish; some were recorded, but the record of others is based on extensive notes. The research also relies on an analysis of organisational material, news articles, and participant observation at meetings, events and the offices of indigenous and human rights organisations.

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28 For an indication of the difference in visibility of the two organisations, a comparison of their websites is interesting. INAI's is a simple single page on the Ministry of Development's website, whereas CONADI has its own website with sophisticated links, photos, news stream and so on. See www.desarrollosocial.gob.ar/inai/104 and www.conadi.gob.cl.

29 Richards, Patricia, Pobladoras, Indígenas and the State: Conflicts Over Women's Rights in Chile (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2004)Google Scholar; Aylwin, José, ‘Tierra y territorio mapuche: un análisis desde una perspectiva histórico jurídico’ (Temuco, Chile: Proyecto Mapu Territorialidad, Instituto de Estudios Indígenas and Universidad de la Frontera, 2002)Google Scholar; Hale, Charles R., ‘Does Multiculturalism Menace? Governance, Cultural Rights and the Politics of Identity in Guatemala’, Journal of Latin American Studies, 34: 3 (2002), pp. 485–524CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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31 Ibid., p. 11.

32 Prior to the arrival of Europeans, Mapuche people organised themselves in autonomous family units that made alliances with others for economic or war purposes. For more about this, see Bengoa, José, Historia del pueblo mapuche (Siglo XIX y XX) (Santiago: Ediciones Sur, 1985)Google Scholar.

33 Interview, 20 March 2008.

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35 Field notes, 19 March 2009.

36 Interview, 22 Oct. 2007.

37 Field notes, 19 March 2009.

38 Guillaume Boccara, ‘The Brighter Side of the Indigenous Renaissance’, Nuevo Mundo, Mundos Nuevos, 2006, available at http://nuevomundo.revues.org/index2405.html; Caniuqueo, Sergio, ‘Siglo XX en Gulumapu: De la fragmentación del Wallmapu a la unidad nacional mapuche, 1880 a 1978’, in Marimán, Pablo, Caniuqueo, Sergio, Millalén, José and Levil, Rodrigo (eds.), Escucha, winka! Cuatro ensayos de Historia Nacional Mapuche y un epílogo sobre el futuro (Santiago: LOM Ediciones, 2006), pp. 129–217Google Scholar; Marimán, Pablo, ‘Los mapuche antes de la conquista militar chileno-argentina’, in Marimán, et al. , Escucha, winka!, pp. 53–127Google Scholar.

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40 Alex Flores Brauer, ‘Los mapuches no detendrán sus movilizaciones’, Diario La Nación, 25 Oct. 1991, cited in José A. Mariman, ‘La organización mapuche Aukiñ Wallmapu Ngulam’, April 1995, available at www.mapuche.info/mapuint/jmar2.htm.

41 Rogelio Guanuco, El Diario Austral, 29 April 1990, cited in Martínez Neira, ‘Transición a la democracia’, p. 610.

42 Interview with Wladimir Painemal, 26 March 2009. Wallmapu is a Mapuche word that means ‘all Mapuche land’, and I explain it in more detail below.

43 Ibid.

44 Field notes, 25 June 2006.

45 Seguel, Eduardo Mella, Los mapuche ante la justicia: la criminalización de la protesta indígena en Chile (Santiago: LOM Ediciones, 2007)Google Scholar; Richards, ‘Of Indians and Terrorists’.

46 Pedro Cayuqueo, ‘La bandera nos proyecta en el mundo moderno como una nación’, Azkintuwe, 18 May 2010, available at www.azkintuwe.org/may181.htm.

47 Pedro Cayuqueo, ‘La bandera es un símbolo de liberación, de auto reconocimiento como nación’, Azkintuwe, 13 May 2010, available at www.azkintuwe.org/may134.htm.

48 Field notes, 1April 2009.

49 Interview with Domingo Colicoy, 24 March 2009.

50 Cayuqueo, ‘La bandera es un símbolo’.

51 Interview with Wladimir Painemal, 26 March 2009.

52 Interview with Domingo Colicoy, 24 March 2009.

53 Cayuqueo, ‘La bandera es un símbolo’.

54 Cayuqueo, ‘La bandera nos proyecta’.

55 ‘Llevó la bandera mapuche junto a la argentina’, Diario Río Negro, 18 Dec. 2000.

56 See www.mapuche.info/mapu/Parlamento_Mapuche.html for the full text of the resolution.

57 See www.mapuexpress.net/?act=publications&id=168.

58 For the full text of the resolution, see www.contraloria.cl/appinf/LegisJuri/DictamenesGeneralesMunicipales.nsf/DetalleDictamen?OpenForm&UNID=6C38E0508439B0B98425771500584699.

59 See http://lanovena.cl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=31250:en-padre-las-casas-bandera-mapuche-y-chilena-flamean-unidas&catid=43:padre-las-casas&Itemid=12 for a description of the first time the Mapuche flag was flown officially in the municipality of Padre Las Casas, an area that contains 360 Mapuche communities.

60 Aucán Huilcaman, ‘Izamineto de la bandera mapuche in Chile’, Centro de Documentación Mapuche, 2010, available at www.mapuche.info/?kat=8&sida=590.

61 Ibid.

62 See www.theclinic.cl/2011/09/02/mapuches-izaran-su-bandera-nacional-en-frontis-del-municipio-de-temuco.

63 ‘Permiten que escriba su nombre con grafía Mapuche’, Diario Río Negro, 4 April 2004.

64 Interview, 31 March 2009.

65 Field notes, 1 April 2009.

66 Boccara, ‘The Brighter Side’.

67 Anderson, Imagined Communities.

68 Boccara, ‘The Brighter Side’.

69 Although it is not clear who originally created many of these maps, some examples of maps that show general outlines of Mapuche territory can be found at www.unpo.org/members/7895; www.argentinamunicipal.com.ar/despachos.asp?cod_Des=18233&id_seccion=62; and http://unawi.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/mapa-territorio-mapuche.jpg.

70 See, for example, the map that is on the cover of the print editions of Azkintuwe.

71 The central example of this kind of map comes from Pablo Marimán's chapter in the book Escucha, winka!.

72 For an example of the latter, see http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Mapuche_map.jpg.

73 The previously listed maps show these geographic variations.

74 See www.azkintuwe.org/quienesomos.htm.

75 Ibid.

76 Interview with Pedro Cayuqueo, director of Azkintuwe, 24 March 2009.

77 Ibid.

78 Pablo Marimán, ‘Los mapuche’, in Marimán et al., Escucha, winka!, p. 53.

79 Pablo Marimán et al., ‘Epílogo’, in Marimán et al., Escucha, winka!, p. 257.

80 Hale, Charles R. and Millamán, Rosamel, ‘Cultural Agency and Political Struggle in the Era of the Indio Permitido’, in Sommer, Doris (ed.), Cultural Agency in the Americas (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2006), p. 292Google Scholar.

81 See Declaración de Principios de Wallmapuwen, Dec. 2005.

82 Hobsbawm, , Nations and Nationalism Since 1780Google Scholar; Hobsbawm, Eric and Rangers, Terrance (eds.), The Invention of Tradition (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992)Google Scholar.