The decolonisation of knowledge and being a Mapuche: a case study of the Commemoration of the Bicentennial of the construction of the Republic of Chile

Abstract

The Commemoration of the Bicentennial of the independence from Spanish rule in Latin America highlights a general tendency for the exaltation of Bolivarianism, nationalism and indigenism. These three tendencies show a commemoration that is characterised by the need to recuperate the identity or nationality as a tool of belonging and social cohesion. Specifically, within the framework of the “exaltation of indigenism” emerges the historic confrontation between native peoples and the Republican state in America, in light of three notions: the Latin American identity, nationalism and nation - state. In reference to these three concepts and from the perspective of the colonial matrix of power theory, the analysis focuses on “being Mapuche”, that is, being indigenous people in Chile in the context of the Commemoration of the Bicentennial.