Subordinated Mapuche williche women of the Chilean northpatagonia? From gender violence to political-cultural empowerment

Abstract

SUMMARY: In the Chilean Northern Patagonia, Huilliche-Mapuche women have gained significant visibility in the last 40 years. Nonetheless, gender violence continues to be rife, particularly in the rural sectors of Los Lagos Region and Los Rios Region. Their empowerment, as women and indigenous, and their political, social and cultural agency, reveals a rationale and praxis that is close to certain aspects of Southern or peripheral feminisms. For many of these important social actors, having overcome the scars of violence seems to propel them onto the stage of public and community life, either as leaders or as micro-entrepreneurs, which their communities cannot do without. This paper, based on fieldwork, reviews the position of a subordinated group like indigenous women, in a bid to find clues to reflect on resilience, feminism and subordination.