Conformación y dinámica interna del campo identitario regional en tarapacá y los lagos, Chile

Abstract

This article presents a theoretical and methodological approach to the study of the regional identities in Chile, especially concerning its relationships with ethnic identity. Two different levels inside the regional identity are defined and discussed: the territorial identities and the non-territorial identities. According to this framework two empirical cases are described and compared: aymara identity in Tarapacá and mapuche identity in Valdivia. That confirms the usefulness of an historical-comparative approach; in this case, to give account of the different social place of such identities in each Region. The aymara identity, unlike the mapuche one, is assimilated to Andean, Peruvian and Bolivian "foreigness". The regional identity exhibits also a different configuration because of the strong impact of the German colonization in Valdivia, which has no equivalent in Tarapacá, where people of several nationalities: European, Andean and Chilean, coexisted in the same period.