Urban Ethnicity in Santiago de Chile Mapuche Migration and Urban Space vorgelegt von Walter Alejandro Imilan Ojeda Von der Fakultät VI - Planen Bauen Umwelt der Technischen Universität Berlin zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades Doktor der Ingenieurwissenschaften Dr.-Ing. genehmigte Dissertation Promotionsausschuss: Vorsitzender: Prof. Dr. -Ing. Johannes Cramer Berichter: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Peter Herrle Berichter: Prof. Dr. phil. Jürgen Golte Tag der wissenschaftlichen Aussprache: 18.12.2008 Berlin 2009 D 83 Acknowledgements This work is the result of a long process that I could not have gone through without the support of many people and institutions. Friends and colleagues in Santiago, Europe and Berlin encouraged me in the beginning and throughout the entire process. A complete account would be endless, but I must specifically thank the Programme Alßan, which provided me with financial means through a scholarship (Alßan Scholarship Nº E04D045096CL). I owe special gratitude to Prof. Dr. Peter Herrle at the Habitat-Unit of Technische Universität Berlin, who believed in my research project and supported me in the last five years. I am really thankful also to my second adviser, Prof. Dr. Jürgen Golte at the Lateinamerika-Institut (LAI) of the Freie Universität Berlin, who enthusiastically accepted to support me and to evaluate my work. I also owe thanks to the protagonists of this work, the people who shared their stories with me. I want especially to thank to Ana Millaleo, Paul Paillafil, Manuel Lincovil, Jano Weichafe, Jeannette Cuiquiño, Angelina Huainopan, María Nahuelhuel, Omar Carrera, Marcela Lincovil, Andrés Millaleo, Soledad Tinao, Eugenio Paillalef, Eusebio Huechuñir, Julio Llancavil, Juan Huenuvil, Rosario Huenuvil, Ambrosio Ranimán, Mauricio Ñanco, the members of Wechekeche ñi Trawün, Lelfünche and CONAPAN. I dedicate this work to Ruth, Jaime, Ingrid, Jennifer, Bruno and Lucía. Berlin, August 2009. Contents List of Tables and Figures IV Abstract V Zussamenfassung VI INTRODUCTION 1 The Problem 4 Ethnicity 8 The City 15 Reading Plan 24 PART I * Chpater 1 30 The Study of the Difference in the City. Methodological Discussions about Object of Study 1. Introduction 30 2. London: Industrial, Modern, Poor and Barbarian 32 2.1. Explorers of the Wild City 32 2.2. The People of the Streets 35 3. Ethnographers of the Great American City 42 3.1. The Creation of the Chicago School and the “Chicago Touch” 42 3.2. Praxis and Theory - Micro and Macro 47 4. In Search of the Lost Community or Neighbourhood as an 52 Object of Study 4.1. The “Barrio” as an Observation Strategy 54 4.2. Resistance to Fragmentation 55 4.3. The Collective as Something Fleeting 57 5. Towards the Construction of a New Objects of Study 59 * Chapter 2 62 The Mapuche Modern Society. From the Reduction to the Nacional Project 1. Introduction 62 2. The War and the Military Defeat of the Mapuches 63 2.1. The 1868-1869 Military Campaign 63 2.2. The 1881 Campaign 67 3. The Occupation of Araucanía 70 3.1. The End of Tradicional Society 70 3.2. Reservation and Abuses 75 4. The Post-Reductional Society 80 5. The Post-Reductional Organizations 85 5.1. The Birth of a New Mapuche Political Culture 85 5.2. 1900 – 1940: The First Major Organizations 86 5.3. Second Half of 20th Century: The Politicization of the Country 93 and the Politicization of Mapuche Organizations 6. The Last Thirty Years: The Road of Political Independence 99 6.2. The Spatial-Turn of Mapuche Identity 100 7. Chapter Conclusions 105 PART II 108 * Chapter 3 108 Making Bread in the City 1. Introduction 108 2. The Historical Context of the Mapuche Migratory Process 109 2.1. Displacement from the Community 109 2.2. Mapuche Migration since the Middle of the 20th Century 111 2.3. Integration into the City 115 3. From Farmer to Backer 117 3.1. The Itineraries of Migration 117 3.2. The Far-Off Community: Relationships with the Communities 119 of Origin 3.3. Chain Migration 124 3.4. From Labor Unions to Indigenous Associations 131 4. Chapter Conclusions: The Bakery as a Strategy of Formal 137 Integration * Chapter 4 139 The Neo-Community. The Return of the Community – The Urban Organization as a Space for Ethnicity 1. Introduction 139 2. The Organization as a Community 140 2.1. The Space of Refuge 140 2.2. Levels of Communities 142 2.3. Organizations in Santiago 145 3. Organization in La Florida: Shamans and the Lesson of 148 Worldview 3.1. The First Mapuche Refuge in La Florida 148 3.2. Members of the Organization 153 3.2.1. Two Migrant Women 154 3.2.2. Two Non-Migrant Men 160 3.2.3. The Sense of Community within Diversity 163 II 3.3. The Constitution of the Neo-Community 164 4. Chapter Conclusions: The Neo-Community as a Space of 173 Negotiation * Chapter 5 I am the Mapuche city. Youth Culture and Mapuche Hip-hop 175 1. Introduction 175 2. The Club-House –the Sede in a Barrio Popular 176 3. Subculture and / or Youth Culture? Cultural Producers 179 4. Performances for the Urban 182 4.1. On the Stage with Other Indigenous 182 4.2. On the Stage 189 4.3. On the Stage with Other Mapuche 193 5. Hip-hop: Appropriation and Hybridization 198 5.1. Hip-hop´s Rise to the Global Stage 198 5.2. Hybridization / Originality: The Problem of Authenticity 201 6. Authenticity and realness in Mapuche Hip-hop 204 7. Chapter Conclusions: Mapuche Hip-hop as Urban Identity 209 * CONCLUSIONS 211 The Diffuse Ethnicity 218 REFERENCES 220 III List of Figures Fig. 1. Distribution of Mapuche population in Santiago 7 Fig. 2. Photography by Jacob Riis in New York in 1888 44 Fig. 3. Diagram of Hobohemia 48 Fig. 4. Map of Wallmapu 69 Fig. 5. El Araucano newspaper 90 Fig. 6. Sociedad Caupolicán 93 Fig. 7. Itineraries of residence and work in Santiago of 128 members of the Union Fig. 8. Caricature about urban organizations 148 Fig. 9. Itineraries of residence in Santiago of members of the 159 organization Fig. 10. In Concert 197 Fig. 11. Hip-hop Producers 208 List of Tables Table 1. Census 1992 – 2002 4 Table 2. Mapuche population in Santiago by comunas 6 Table 3. Hyper-urbanization in Latin America 17 Table 4. Títulos de Merced 80 Table 5. Mapuche migrations 1966 – 1992 112 Table 6. Mapuche organizations by comunas in Santiago, 2004 146 IV Abstract The urban phenomenon is changing. The social and political transformations of recent decades have created new forms and models of inhabiting in the city. In Latin America, phenomena of globalization and the implementation of liberal policies have, on the one hand, expanded flows of information and communication and, on the other hand, affected forms of social cohesion which were developed from the modern urbanization process of the mid-20 th Century. This new context has transformed the ways in which the people build identity and a sense of belonging inside the urban society. Since the 1990s ethnicity has become an important source of identity construction for a growing percentage of city dwellers in Latin America. The ethnic roots of its inhabitants are turned into resources for social cohesion and recognition as social actors. The purpose of this study is to explore the process of formation of an urban ethnicity in Santiago de Chile. The Mapuches are the largest ethnic group in Chile and about half of their total population resides in the city of Santiago. However, despite being the largest ethnic group in Santiago, the Mapuche do not have a visible presence in the city. The emergence over the last decade of the political and social category of urban Mapuche and Mapuche-warriache describes the growing importance of ethnicity as a source of identity in Santiago. Ethnicity is related to the notion of collective identities. In this sense, it is a process whereby a group of people are collectively different from “others,” ethnicity is a broad concept which describes a process of differentiation. The objective of this research is to investigate the strategies through which Mapuche society in Santiago establishes differences, both in relation to the remaining urban society, and to "traditional" Mapuche society. Accordingly, this work aims to identify processes through which an urban ethnic identity is constructed. The working hypothesis is that the Mapuche currently in the city - first and second generation migrants - build hybrid forms with the remaining urban society more than they reproduce or reterritorialize their society of origin. The Mapuches in the city are not trapped between their societies of origin and the host urban society, but are, in turn, building strategies in which ethnic identity is part of a system of identities in which they participate. The work has two parts. The first part presents two critical reviews: a chapter on the method of ethnographic research and its application to urban space, and another chapter which focuses on the history of modern Mapuche society. The second part is experimental and composed of three case studies. Each experimental case is presented and analyzed through ethnographic methodology. This work explores the urban ethnicity as a contemporary form of building identity and sense of belonging. Currently, in Latin America an essentialist perspective prevails to deal the indigenous identities. This paper argues that the Mapuches in the city are not trapped between their societies of origin and the host urban society, but are, in turn, building strategies in which ethnic identity is part of a system of identities in which they participate. These strategies are a very dynamic form of communication and differentiation. V Zusammenfassung Das urbane Phänomen ist im Wandel.