The Mapuche of Chile: meanings from their speech

Abstract

The Mapuche of Chile are considered to be “national citizens”, and history shows that the State has sought to “integrate” them based on the logic of equality. The purpose of this article is to understan the form in which the Mapuche signify themselves in relation to the State and Chilean society -- the subject of our doctoral thesis. Our analysis of Mapuche discourse showed that, despite the intentions of assimilation, they identify themselves as “others” and not as ordinary Chilean citizens. This thesis was written in the Faculty of Education of the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), with a scholarship of the Foundation for Research Support of the State of Sao Paulo (Fapesp) and the collaboration of the Mapuche of the Area of Indigenous Development of Lake Lleu-Lleu, in the 8th Region of Chile.