Republican colonialism, violence and Mapuche racial subordination in Chile during the twentieth century

Abstract

This article examines violence against the Mapuche society in the process of its forced incorporation into the Chilean state during the 20th century. Through the analysis of archival sources and oral history, the authors reconstruct the effects of republican colonialism on the loss of Mapuche political and territorial sovereignty, as well as processes of minorization, obliteration, banishment and persecution of Mapuchezugun (language) and Mapuche Kimün (Mapuche knowledge). These processes are understood as consequences of racial subordination and the interaction of different generations in what is conceptualized as "spaces of civilization".