Nuevo mundo - Mundos Nuevos (Sep 2015)

Penser le « néolibéralisme multiculturel ». La démocratisation chilienne à l’épreuve des Mapuche

  • Michael Barbut

DOI
https://doi.org/10.4000/nuevomundo.68226

Abstract

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In the context of a return to democracy, Chile has seen an increase in mobilization among the Mapuche claiming their “ancestral lands”, currently occupied by forestry companies or larger landowners. Most works of social science about the Mapuche have addressed the subject of these mobilizations but left aside the mechanisms of government used in Mapuche communities. These mechanisms maintain social order (in this case, land governance) without using violent forms of control. Many communities were not involved in protest actions during the last twenty years and instead inserted themselves in a neoliberal policy debate. In this article, I am going to analyze the establishment of a neoliberal project in the Mapuche territories since the coup d’Etat in 1973: first, under the Pinochet model and then under democratic government, looking at how Mapuche culture and identity (neoliberal multiculturalism) has been marketed. I advocate that the efficiency of neoliberal multiculturalism as way of government cannot be understood without reference to other forms of historical domination applied to Mapuche people.

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