The Mapuche people of southern Chile seek to hold on to their way of life in the face of discrimination and Western-style market forces.
By Fr. Dan Harding

During my 16 years as a Columban missionary in Chile, the similarities between the indigenous peoples of my native Australia and Chile have always interested me.

The Mapuches (people of the land) are the principal indigenous group in Chile that makes up about 8 percent of Chile’s population. Their traditional homeland is hundreds of miles south of the capital city of Santiago. However, up to one half of them now live in Santiago.

Unlike much of South America, the Mapuches were never conquered by Spanish colonizers. Instead, they were subjugated by the Chilean government in the 19th century after Chile became independent from Spain. As a result, the Mapuches are some of the poorest people in Chile, with the lowest income and educational levels, the highest unemployment and imprisonment rates and the worst health record.

Attempts are being made by the Chilean government to improve their situation. Bilingual education programs, special university and other scholarships are available to Mapuche students. There are also projects to improve their economic situation.

As Columbans, we have the pastoral responsibility for an area called Isla Huapi (Huapi Island), more than 500 miles south of Santiago near Puerto Saavedra. The municipal district—100 percent Mapuche—is the poorest one in Chile.

Visitors pass rich, fertile plains along a river. This land with well-organized farms belongs to Chileans; the infertile, surrounding hill country belongs to the Mapuches. Until the late 19th century, all this land belonged to the Mapuches.

Like Australia, Chile is characterized by a dominant Western settler cultures with its minority indigenous cultures struggling for justice and social, cultural and economic survival. The indigenous peoples have a great attachment to the land.

In Chile, there are difficult and often violent relations between the Mapuches and the different industries operating in their heartland. The modern Mapuche political movements are intent on recovering and preserving their land.

In the last decade, there has been an ongoing violent uprising in which people have been killed and forestry company offices and machinery have been destroyed. Many militant Mapuche leaders are imprisoned.

The most militant of these groups don’t recognize the Chilean government. They have their own flag and want to create their own state. Their theme is, “Mapuche Yes, Chilean Never!”

Hemmed-In ‘Islands’
What is behind this Mapuche uprising? The Chilean economy has had more than 20 years of relatively high economic growth. Much of this has come from Chile’s participation in globalized world markets, free-trade agreements and the subsequent reliance on the capital of transnational companies to invest in Chile.

For the modern export-oriented agricultural and forestry industries, which are maximizing profits and productivity, the small-scale traditional farming of the Mapuches seems primitive and economically nonviable. Large transnational corporations have invested heavily in industries, such as forestry and salmon farming, on what was originally Mapuche land.

The transnational capital behind the forestry industry has threatened to withdraw or change their investments if they don’t get the land it wants.

With continued economic development, the 2,000 or so small Mapuche reserves in their heartland have been transformed into a string of small indigenous “islands” surrounded by an “ocean” of export-oriented industries. Many Mapuches feel hemmed in, their cultural identity and language endangered, the ecosystems of their land damaged by these neighboring industries.

The growing conflict represents a clash between two different worldviews: economic productivity and profit versus the Mapuche values of spiritual harmony with the natural environment and a community system of living.

In 1993, the Chilean government promulgated “The Indigenous Law,” which formally recognized the multicultural and multi-ethnic nature of the nation. Many Chileans would like to see their country as culturally and racially homogeneous, with the Mapuches gradually assimilating into the general population and disappearing. “The Historic Truth and New Treatment Commission” was set up to investigate ways to improve the situation of the Mapuches and Chilean relations with them.

Both Chilean & Catholic
Militant Mapuches don’t recognize Christianity, which they see as intrinsically European and culturally destructive. As young Mapuches radicalize, they leave the Catholic Church. Because most Mapuches remain Catholics and continue to practice their traditional religious beliefs, an important challenge is to develop an authentic Mapuche way of being Catholic and Chilean at the same time.

Columbans with pastoral responsibility for Huapi Island such as Fr. Michael Howe work with Catholic Mapuches to strengthen their religious and cultural identity and support the role of traditional Mapuche authorities, such as chiefs and shamans.

They participate when invited in traditional ceremonies and celebrations such as Machitún (healing ceremonies), Guillatún (community religious celebrations), Eluwun (funerals), Palin (traditional sporting events) and We Xipantu (New Year). By living as neighbors and participating in their way of life, our missionaries help create a dialogue about how one can authentically be both Mapuche and Catholic.

Efforts are being made by the Church to promote reconciliation, justice and understanding with indigenous people. The Chilean bishops of the southern Mapuche regions, for example, are placing a lot more importance on ministry to indigenous people.

In September 2001, the bishops of the eight dioceses that comprise the Mapuche heartland published an open letter to the nation in which they recognized the damage done to the Mapuches by the occupation of their ancestral lands and the policy of cultural assimilation promulgated by the government. They called for better treatment for the Mapuches and for dialogue between them and the owners of industries that surround them.

What untapped spiritual wealth can we in the Church learn from our indigenous peoples? It seems that God, the Creator of all, has given our indigenous people wonderful values and spiritual gifts that Western technology and market-driven societies desperately need to receive.

Columban Father Dan Harding was ordained in 1986 and has been the regional director for the Columbans in Chile since 2001.