The Chilean elite's point of view on indigenous peoples

DE CEA, MAITE; HEREDIA, MARIANA; VALDIVIESO, DIEGO

Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies

Taylor & Francis

Año: 2016 vol. 41 p. 328 - 347

0826-3663

In Chile, recognition of the country?s indigenous peoples is gen-erally approached from the victims? point of view, drawing atten-tion to the social, economic, and legal situation of historicallyexcluded communities. Although this is a legitimate approach,this paper proposes another perspective: looking at how theinfluential members of the elite perceive indigenous peoples andthe construction of a plurinational democracy. Recognition ofindigenous peoples? rights depends to a large extent on theirrelations with other groups and, in particular, on the strategiesdeployed by the most powerful minorities. In order to ascertainthe opinion of those directly concerned with the ?Mapuche issue?,we focused on businesspeople with investments in mining, for-estry, salmon farming, and the electricity industry, as well as thecountry?s business associations. Similarly, we paid special attentionto political authorities, private-sector and religious leaders, judges,judicial authorities, and government officials from the AraucaníaRegion. Apart from identifying differences among members of theelite based on their political affiliations, this paper reveals a gen-eralized awareness of discrimination but a widespread reluctanceto find concrete solutions.