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Participation: the key to intercultural dialogue
and ethnic inclusion in public services
Ángel Cabeza Monteira, Director; Carolina Pérez Dattari, Citizen Participation Coordinator; and Macarena
Lira Turpaud, International Affairs Coordinator, Directorate of Libraries, Archives and Museums, Chile
The regions of La Araucanía and Biobío in the south of
Chile are perhaps the most representative regions of
the ‘Mapuche Conflict’ between Mapuche communi-
ties and the State of Chile because of the occupation of La
Araucanía. Even though many people don’t like the use of
the term ‘conflict’, it is the most common way of referring
to disputes over ancestral lands, cultural recognition and
jurisdictional autonomy. The occupation of La Araucanía
was a war fought between 1861 and 1883 that marked the
end of the Arauco War, which lasted nearly three centu-
ries. It implied the total occupation of the Chilean side of
Wallmapu (the Mapuche people’s name for their territory in
the southern zone) and the union of Chilean territory. After
the Mapuche people were defeated, the State of Chile gave
them approximately 6 per cent of the lands they used to have.
From that historic base, having a public service managing patri-
monial and cultural spaces in those regions is a conflict itself.
That’s why it is interesting to take a closer look at two institutions
that form the Directorate of Libraries, Archives and Museums,
dependent on theMinistry of Education–theMapucheMuseum
of Cañete and the Regional Archive of La Araucanía.
The museographic exhibition, and the historic record of
a culture as discriminated as the Mapuche one, carries a lot
of questions regarding the real inclusion and participation
of local communities in public services, providing open and
democratic spaces, making these services connection vessels
between the past and the present and promoting a civic vitality
that bears the prospect of reconciliation. This is highlighted
by the two public services mentioned above, described from
the point of view of Mapuche women who work there.
The pertinence or veracity of the story narrated, respect or
otherwise for the objects on display, the main language used in
the space and other variables are of paramount importance in
order to judge a museum. The Mapuche Museum of Cañete, is
an example of a successful transition for the Mapuche people,
from objects of study to subjects that co-manage that educa-
tional and cultural space. In that matter, participative methods
play a fundamental role in the difficult task of travelling from
an exclusive museographic dynamic to an inclusive one.
Juana Paillalef Curinao in front of the museum. Ruka Kimvn Taiñ Volil means
‘the house that safeguards our roots’
Sara Carrasco Chicahual at the southern zone gathering of indigenous
women organized by SERNAM
Image: Carolina Pérez Dattari
Image: En Equipo Producciones Ltda.
A gree to Differ