The Mapuche community consists of the indigenous people who live in south-central Chile and the southwest parts of Argentina. Although these people are of various ethnicities, they have the same language as well as similar religious and social beliefs. Traditionally, they had an agricultural economy and lived in extended families under a chief. Of the total population in Chile, it is estimated that the Mapuche make up about 4%. As of 2002, there were approximately 609,000 people in Chile who were Mapuche.
The Mapuche conflict has been going on for over 20 years. One of the reasons that it started was that some indigenous communities discovered logging and faming companies using their property. They have called for this unauthorized use to end. In the meantime, some of their ancestral lands have been taken and even destroyed.
One action that the Mapuche people were particularly upset about was the building of the Ralco Hydroelectric Plant in the 1990s. This power plant was built on sacred land. Ultimately, compensations were paid to the Mapuche for this occurrence.
Currently, the Mapuche have several demands. First of all, they want to have their ancestral lands returned to them. They also want to gain jurisdictional automony. As a result, there has been political lobbying, hunger strikes and even some more violent actions like death threats and arson.
Under the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People, there are certain rights that the Mapuche could obtain from the U.N. Under this type of protection, the Mapuche would have rights similar to that of the Inuit people in Greenland.
In 2009, tensions between the Mapuche people and government of Chile escalated, as a 24-year-old indigenous activist was killed during a protest. This occurrence raised tension and got everyone talking about how to solve the Mapuche conflict.
As a side note, it is interesting that although you may first hear of the Mapuche people when you learn Spanish in Chile, they actually have had a recent role in popular culture! In the last book of the Twilight Saga, "Breaking Dawn," a few of the characters are of Mapuche descent. These characters are vampires born in the 1800s that live in Chile. Of course, these fictional characters have little to do with the actual Mapuche.
If you are attending Spanish school in Chile you may very well want to better understand the country's indigenous people and their current roles in society. Therefore, it makes sense to learn about the Mapuche people and their struggle to protect their land and their heritage.
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ECELA Santiago is a Spanish school in Chile that provides cultural lessons and activities in addition to the language course. For more information on how to study Spanish in Chile =. http://www.ecela.com/loc_sgo.php
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