Metacultural positions in Mapuche communities on both sides of the ridge

Abstract

This paper analyses the “metacultural†perspectives that different Mapuche leaders bring up to date during the daily discussions of their local communities. If culture is a social concept that creates its own “regime of truth†about the social differences and the politics of representation, then the deliberations that the Mapuches elaborate on this subject constitute a central theme in the anthropological analysis of political orientations. In recent years, the communities representatives have become aware of the acquired importance of “culture†within interethnic spaces where they fight for their rights, their resources and to obtain social recognition.The prolonged and extensive field works undertaken by the author in Mapuche rural communities of Argentina and Chile have prompted her to inquire about the political and social basis that exists when “culture†is understood as a symbolic capital, an interpretative frame or an object of signification.