The Pinochet Dictatorship

Abstract

Chapter 5 explores the interactive dynamics of indigenous-state relations during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. It begins by outlining the brutality of state repression, the consequences of the land division law of 1979, and the significance of the emergence of a large ethnic-based Mapuche organizational network (the Mapuche Cultural Centers) in opposition to this law. The main sections, however, concentrate on Mapuche and Chilean cultural production and state cultural policy in order to show that resistance could entail some strategic negotiating. And, vice-versa, we see that collaboration involved moments of defiance. The chapter also stresses how, even under a military dictator, government discourses on the “indigenous question” were multiple and often inconsistent.