Indigenous Movements in Chile: Toward Self-Determination or Recognition?

Abstract

Since the creation of nation-states, Indigenous Peoples have been forced to adopt ways of life that are stranger to their cultures and their worldviews, having to assume behaviors considered acceptable by a Western society. In the last decades, different indigenous movements emerged demanding to States the respect of their cultural, economic, and social rights. But the core of these demands also has incorporated the recognition of their political rights and their real participation in public and power spaces. In this chapter, we will reflect on indigenous movements in Chile, incorporating the perspective of other similar processes in Latin America, identifying those elements that have influenced their emergence and that characterize their strategies and dynamics in relation to the State. As the chapter shows, indigenous movements have acquired a special strength characterized by a process of affirmation of collective identities, questioning the nation-state and the republican principles that have defined it, especially with its centralism and rationality expressed in a hierarchical institutionality that does not recognize the diversities that characterize Indigenous Peoples. Therefore, it is relevant to understand the nature of the demands of indigenous movements in Chile from a systemic perspective, where political and economic decisions taken from a hegemonic nation-state model allow explaining their dynamics, strategies, and proposals.