UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Ono Tupuna, the richness of the ancestors. Multiples Landscapes Relationalities in Contemporary Indigenous Rapa Nui Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4kk483h5 Author Rivas, Antonia Publication Date 2017 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Ono Tupuna, the richness of the ancestors. Multiples Landscapes Relationalities in Contemporary Indigenous Rapa Nui By Antonia Rivas A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of degree requirements for Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Charles L Briggs, Co-Chair Professor Nancy Scheper-Hughes, Co-Chair Professor Laura Nader Professor Leti P Volpp Summer 2017 Abstract Ono Tupuna, the richness of the ancestors. Multiples Landscapes Relationalities in Contemporary Indigenous Rapa Nu By Antonia Rivas Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology University of California, Berkeley Professor Charles Briggs, Co-Chair Professor Nancy Scheper-Hughes, Co-Chair Contemporary Rapa Nui is formed by a multiple and complex set of interactions, encounters, and circumstances that comprise the core of their indigenous identity, like many other indigenous people's realities. In this dissertation, I argue that there is not a simple or straightforward way of thinking about indigenous identities without falling into the trap of essentialism and stereotyping. Indigenous people are not what remained of ancestral civilizations, nor are they either invented nor folklorized commodities produced by ―neo-shamanism‖ discourses. Recent theoretical contributions to the understanding of the relationship of native peoples with their territories have been fundamental to rethinking the meanings of indigeneity, but I argue that they continue to essentialize indigenous people relations with their past and the ways in which they are understood in the present. That is why in this dissertation I propose thinking about indigeneity through a notion of "multiple relationalities" as crucial for constructions of indigenous identity. In this dissertation, based on an extended fieldwork in Rapa Nui (which was formerly known as Easter Island), I contribute to the ways of thinking about indigeneity and ancestrality, especially concerning the manner in which is the relation of the indigenous peoples with their territories is understood. Indigenous territory is framed in multiple ways, constituting notions of landscapes that overlap, creating the unique and unrepeatable space of indigenous people's lands. This dissertation focuses on understanding how these landscapes are configured in Rapa Nui, and how they relate to configurations of indigenous identities Rapa Nui. Consequently, I argue that looking closely at the diverse and complex maps that have been constructed of Rapa Nui landscapes will allow us to analyze the nature of the Rapanui territoriality. I refer to these landscapes as the landscape of the ancestors and the Rapanui nation (chapter 3), the landscape of Chile and the State (chapter 4), and the landscape of tourism and collapse (chapter 4). Understanding how these landscapes are created, overlapped and contradicted, allows us to bring closer Rapanui identities and realities and, at the same time, to complicate broader indigeneity discourses that circulate globally. 1 Table of Contents Chapter 1. Introduction 1-25 Rapa Nui Conversations Global Indigeneity: Modernity, Ancestrality and Authenticity in Rapa Nui Brief History of Rapa Nu Land TeHenua o Te Tupuna (The Island of the Ancestors) Methods Chapter 2. Multiple landscapes in one space. Indigenous Lands and Human Rights. 26-39 Indigenous People's ―Special‖ Relationship with the Land. International Indigenous Law and the Indigenous Land.The Territorial Turn. Latin American Multiculturalism and the Ontological Spin Multiple Landscapes in One Land Chapter 3. The landscape of the tupunas. Nation of the ancestors 40-65 Ancestral Land. The Past in the Ancestral The Rapanui Nation Chapter 4. Isla de Pascua. The Landscape of Chile and the State. 66-91 The Origins of the Colonial Pact No Man‘s Land Isla de Pascua, Chilean Land. The Building of Imaginary Maps The State on Easter Island Today Ethnography of the State on Rapa Nui Chapter 5. In the Shadow of the Moai. Tourism Landscape, Archaeology and Collapse. 92-117 The Mystery Island A Brief History of Tourism in Rapa Nui The Museum‘s Metaphor The Appearance of the Moai and the Disappearance of Rapanui Indigeneity and the Environment Tourism Culture Conclusions 118-123 Bibliography 124-149 i Acknowledgments To the Rapanui people, Maururu. I dedicate this dissertation to the memory of Roby Forster and to the arikiValentin Riroroko, who are no longer with us. I‘m in debt with many people that help me to think about this research for so many years. First of all, in UC Berkeley, I need to thanks to my advisors in the Anthropology Department, Nancy Schepher-Hughes, and Charles Briggs, I could not imagine having better mentors in the world. I have so much to be thankful with Carlos Briggs and Clara, that it 's hard to put it into words. Each conversation we had, illuminated new paths in the process of understanding anthropology, of thinking and questioning everything about my research. Thank you for all the support, for the kindness and for always trusting that I would achieve it. Thanks for being such a mentor and a friend. Thank you, Nancy Scheper-Hughes, for believing in me from the very beginning, and for treating me as both a student and a collaborator. Thanks for all your support, and for being who you are; a wonderful and exciting anthropologist. Thanks to Laura Nader for your inspiring courage, and for the passion with which you look at the world. It has been an honor and a privilege to learn anthropology of law from you. Thanks to LetiVolpp for your support and your patience, it was wonderful having you on my committee. I want also to acknowledge other professors in the Department of Anthropology who were fundamental in the process of becoming an anthropologist, thanks to James Holston, Cory Hayden, and Saba Mahmood. Thanks Ned Garrett, you are an essential piece of the department, the one who makes things real.Maururu. UC Berkeley has been a unique and exciting place to rediscover my love for learning. Thanks to Marisita and Tu for everything, all the support, love and encouragement. I really appreciated all that help in these years. Thanks Lucas, Daniel, Amalia and Yana for being my family in Berkeley. We are going to miss you all. I want to thanks to my friends at Berkeley. Hector Beltrán, muchas gracias queridoportodo el apoyo, portuamistad, porlasrisas y por el tiempo en la 54th st. Thanks for correcting my English and reading all my papers. Thank Mila Djordjevic, it was a pleasure and enjoyment meeting you. Thanks, IlariaBagnulo for being a light in my life. Thanks to all my Chilean Berkeley friends at Berkeley, especially my beloved Elisa, Piri, Gabi, Pato, Jose y Richi. Los quiero mucho. Thanks Eli y Piri for the support in these last days. I owe my greatest debts to the men and women on Rapa Nui for trusting me enough to share some of their experience and life stories. In Rapa Nui to Mara Riroroko, ValentínRiroroko, Edmundo Edwards, Alexandra Edwards, CamilaZurob, Jimena Ramirez, Cristián Moreno Pakarati, Leonardo Pakarati, Mario Tuki, NitoTeao, Jorge Pont, Marcelo Pont, Nicolas Haoa, AnakenaManutomatoma, Alberto Hotus, Alfonso Rapu, Siki Rapu, papa Pekos, Leviante Araki, EdityTeave, EmaTuki, Marta Hotus, XimenaTrengove, Enrique Pakarati,Hapa, IvonneCalderón, Valeria Pakarati, Jorge Rapu, Cecilia Cardinalli, July Brown, Jacinta Arthur, Diego Muñoz, Rolf Foerster, ii and all the others that agreed to shared their ideas and their wisdom with me. Maururu. I need to thanks especially to Mara and Edmundo for open the doors of their house to me, for treating me as a daughter and friend, and for all the moments, laughs and tears we shared. Thanks to the cities of Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco for hosting me six years, for allowing me to show you to the people I love that came to visit. I do not think I can ever forget the good times. Thanks to all the books, TV shows and films that accompanied me in this long, and sometimes very lonely journey.I'm looking forward to having time to read again. Gracias a toda mi familia y amigos en Chile, simplemente por estar. Gracias Lalo y Tita por el cartoncito y la golondrina. Gracias a mis hermanos Francisco, Juan, Martín y Pedro, los quiero hasta el infinito. Gracias María Eugenia y Elisa. Gracias Papá por tu alegría. Gracias James querido por tu amor y apoyo incondicional siempre. Gracias Mamá por tanto, por ser mi paño de lagrimas y mi mejor consejera, por el ―concéntrate Antonia, concéntrate,‖ por los libros, por cuidar a la nieta y por todo tu amor. No podría haber escrito ni una línea sin tu apoyo constante. Esta tesis es tuya. Finalmente, gracias Nacho por aparecer en mi vida, por acompañarme y quererme como nadie. Gracias por atreverte, gracias por tu generosidad. Te agradezco hasta el infinito por todo el apoyo en estos últimos días, por los chocolates, por soportarme, mantener la casa limpia y el ánimo alto. No me puedo imaginar la vida sin ti y sin nuestra adorada y amada Aurora. Thanks, gracias, maururu. iii Chapter 1 Introduction Image 1Reimiro flag. Photograph of Marta Hotus, used with permission. 2017 Rapanui Conversations ―Eso es, Antonia … lo que necesitamos es algo, alguna organización, algo legal, una corporación nos dijo el otro abogado, que sea realizada bajo las normas de Chile o del mundo, pero que nos permita hacer lo que nosotros queramos con nuestra isla, nuestro territorio y con nuestra cultura ancestral, ono tupuna, con nuestras reglas, las leyes de la isla, con nuestra herencia polinésica maorí.