Mapuche Political Dissent in the Context of Neoliberal Governance
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Mapuche Political Dissent in the Context of Neoliberal Governance: The Recuperation of Ancestral Land as a Process of Indigenous Emancipation in Arauco Province, Chile Nikolas Stüdemann Henríquez Mapuche political dissent in the context of neoliberal governance: The recuperation of ancestral land as a process of indigenous emancipation in Arauco Province, Chile Nikolas Stüdemann Henríquez Thesis committee Promotor Prof. Dr B.E. Büscher Professor and Chair of Sociology of Development and Change Wageningen University & Research Co-promotor Dr P.A. de Vries Assistant professor, Sociology of Development and Change Wageningen University & Research Other members Dr J. Calbucura, Mid Sweden University, Östersund, Sweden Prof. Dr B.B. Hogenboom, University of Amsterdam Prof. Dr E. Swyngedouw, University of Manchester, UK Prof. Dr J.S.C. Wiskerke, Wageningen University & Research This research was conducted under the auspices of the Wageningen School of Social Sciences Mapuche political dissent in the context of neoliberal governance: The recuperation of ancestral land as a process of indigenous emancipation in Arauco Province, Chile Nikolas Stüdemann Henríquez Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of doctor at Wageningen University by the authority of the Rector Magnificus, Prof. Dr A.P.J. Mol, in the presence of the Thesis Committee appointed by the Academic Board to be defended in public on Monday 17 December 2018 at 4 p.m. in the Aula. Nikolas Stüdemann Henríquez Mapuche political dissent in the context of neoliberal governance: The recuperation of ancestral land as a process of indigenous emancipation in Arauco Province, Chile, 180 pages. PhD thesis, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands (2018) With references, with summary in English ISBN 978-94-6343-384-6 DOI https://doi.org/10.18174/464192 Contents Summary ......................................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 4 1. The origins of a new conflictual period .............................................................................................. 5 2. The Mapuche people living in Chile .................................................................................................. 7 3. The Mapuche issue. An open discussion in Chile ............................................................................10 4. The perspective of the dominant order, and its tension with pro-Mapuche groups ..........................16 5. Contribution of this research ............................................................................................................19 6. Research questions ...........................................................................................................................21 7. Theoretical framework: the Mapuche subject in a process of emancipation ....................................22 8. Methodology ....................................................................................................................................25 8.1. A political ethnography of the Mapuche situation .........................................................................26 8.2. Definition of the research area and cases study .............................................................................28 8.3. Research techniques. The operationalization of fieldwork ............................................................30 8.4. Data analysis ..................................................................................................................................31 9. Outline of the Thesis ........................................................................................................................32 Chapter 1: The Mapuche recuperation of ancestral territory: a ‘political truth’ beyond neoliberal territorialization in Chile ...............................................................................................................................35 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................35 2. A Badiouan analysis on Mapuche land recuperation processes .......................................................38 2.1. The Mapuche ‘event’ .....................................................................................................................40 2.2. The ontological precepts of ‘being Mapuche’ ...............................................................................41 2.3. The ‘political truth’ and the constitution of the Mapuche subject .................................................42 3. The Mapuche subject: a sequence of ‘events’ and one ‘truth’ .........................................................44 3.1. The emersion of the ‘events’ in the 20th Century ...........................................................................45 3.2. The radicalization of the Mapuche movement (from 1997 onwards) ............................................47 4. The current ‘state of the situation’ in terms of neoliberal territorialization ......................................49 4.1. The Mapuche and the CONADI land restitution procedure ..........................................................51 5. The Ranquilco case: from the uprising of the truth, to its landing on the arena of land restitution..53 5.1. Confronting the ‘state of the situation’ today ................................................................................55 5.2. Writing the application for the Chodko land restitution process ...................................................56 6. Land-occupation in Huentelolén: the ‘part of no-part’ interrupts the ‘state of the situation’ ...........58 6.1. The land recuperation case .............................................................................................................59 6.2. The ‘criminal’ case. A declaration of principles and a sentence ....................................................60 7. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................61 Chapter 2: The Mapuche cultural complex and land recuperation in Chile. A reconfiguration of spaces and places from the margins of a ruptured world ................................................................................................64 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................64 2. The azmapu, or the Mapuche order of things ...................................................................................68 3. The MCC in a strategic dimension: the plantation becomes a mapu ...............................................70 4. The Mapuche political aesthetics of land recuperation ....................................................................71 5. The political aesthetics of public space: the protest on behalf of political prisoners ......................77 5.1. Starting the demonstration at the Mapuche Museum .....................................................................78 5.2. The closure at the Caupolicán Square ............................................................................................79 6. The creation of Mapuche political platforms by appropriation ........................................................80 7. Contrasting the MCC with the political ontology approach .............................................................84 8. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................89 Chapter 3: From Multicultural Participation to a Museography of Disagreement. The Mapuche Museum of Cañete as a Cultural Platform for Indigenous Political Dissent in Arauco Province, Chile (2001 – 2017) ..91 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................91 2. Theorizing political aesthetics ..........................................................................................................95 3. Approaching the ‘Mapuche subject’ and its cultural-ceremonial complex ......................................99 3.1. The Mapuche ceremonial performances: main features, authorities, and places .........................101 4. The reconfiguration of the participatory process: towards a ‘museography of disagreement’ (2005 – 2007) .......................................................................................................................................................102 4.1. The Mapuche perspectives confronting the ‘old’ discourse of the Museum ...............................103 4.2. The Mapuche material culture and the constitution of a ceremonial-political complex ..............105 5. The Museum as a current platform for political dissent (2015 – 2017) .........................................109 5.1. The new proposals of the museography. Politicizing cultural narratives .....................................112 6. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................114 Chapter 4: More-than-a-game: the Mapuche palin and