Legitimizing and resisting spatial violence in southern Chile (1890s-1910s)

Abstract

Objective/Context: This article analyzes how racialized understandings of geographic space underpinned the constitution of and resistance to violence in southern Chile in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Methodology: Through critical analysis of petitions, newspaper articles, police investigations, and government reports, along with legislation and census data, I examine the genealogy of violence that made possible the granting of extensive land concessions to a large cattle ranching estate, the Rupanco Company, on Coihueco Island, a fertile plain in Llanquihue Province, and the resistance it provoked. Originality: By embedding the concession made to the Rupanco Company in a longer history of violence, my analysis demonstrates how ideas about space shaped land distribution and created pathways for resistance in courts, before police officers, and through local newspapers. Thus, it shows the overlapping sovereignties between the state, Indigenous Mapuche communities, and private companies. Conclusions: The conflict on Coihueco Island in the early twentieth century illustrates a long history of violence against a geographical area interpreted as vacant by legislation, military action, and occupation. The creation of private and public property expanded the state’s ability to legitimize toponymy, land ownership, or expulsions, provoking multiple forms of resistance.