Shamans of the Foye Tree: Gender, Power, and Healing among Chilean Mapuche

CHAPTER 6. Machi as Gendered Symbols of Tradition: National Discourses and Mapuche Resistance Movements

CHAPTER 6 Machi as Gendered Symbols of Tradition: National Discourses and Mapuche Resistance Movements Machi María Ángela smiled straight at the camera and beat on her shamanic drum as she posed for photographers beside Chilean president Eduardo Frei at the presidential palace on August 5, 1999. She wore the festive garb of Mapuche machi: heavy silver jewelry, a black wool shawl, a blue apron with lace, and multicolored hair ribbons tied in a rosette on her forehead (Fig. 6.1). Frei performed Mapuche ritual by holding a branch of the sacred foye tree and drinking muday. He recognized the ethnic dimension of Mapuche problems and promised to “construct a democratic coexistence based on respect and equal opportunities for original ethnicities ” (Las Últimas Noticias, August 6, 1999). A few journalists asked the male longko who were present how they viewed the encounter. But the machi—women and a few partially transvestite men—were never interviewed . When the longko spoke, the machi legitimated them by beating their drums in the background. Outside the presidential palace, other machi drummed to express support for Mapuche resistance movements that were attempting to retake Mapuche land from forestry companies, private energy companies, and the state’s highway authorities. They also backed a request for the suspension of martial law imposed by Frei in Mapuche communities and the release of Mapuche political prisoners.1 Most Mapuche, including machi, were aware of the contradiction between Frei’s public pro-indigenous performances and his government’s neoliberal policies. Mapuche protest groups created a pamphlet featuring a much-publicized photograph of Frei drinking muday with machi, over the ironic caption “¿Cuánto Vale el Show?” (How much is the show worth?). Chile’s democratic presidents since 1990 have used machi in their political campaigns to present themselves as pluralistic. Yet, they perpetu- Machi as Gendered Symbols of Tradition 141 ate national gender ideologies and the neoliberal policies instituted under the military dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet (1973–1990), even while instituting new forms of power and reaping the legitimacy gained from democracy. The Mapuche suffered further assimilation and expropriation of their land under Pinochet’s dictatorship. Chile’s return to democracy saw the passage of the Indigenous Law in 1993.That law recognizes the Mapuche culture and their language, Mapudungu; protects some land and water rights; and created CONADI (Corporación Nacional de Desarrollo Indígena —National Corporation for Indigenous Development), which implements state policies regarding indigenous people. The law, however, did not grant Mapuche any significant political or participatory rights within the state.2 They have the right to vote, but they are marginalized from national politics, and their own political systems go unrecognized. The Indigenous Law does not recognize the Mapuche as a people or grant them the right to self-determination and autonomy. The protection of Mapuche land was violated by presidents Eduardo Frei (1994–2000) and Ricardo Lagos (2000–2006) in the name of national development. They built a series of hydroelectric plants along the Figure 6.1. President Frei, and his minister of the interior, holding foye leaves, stand for the national anthem at the presidential palace while female machi and other Mapuche women sit in the background with their drums (photo by the Consorcio Periodístico de Chile). 142 Shamans of the Foye Tree Bio-Bío River in the Mapuche-Pewenche communities and a highway that ran through other Mapuche communities. Frei and Lagos subsidized forestry companies that logged Mapuche ancestral territories, destroying ancient forests and depleting water resources in the area (Instituto de Estudios Indígenas 2003; Muga 2004). Frei argued that national development projects were necessary to “modernize” Chile and make it competitive in the global market, but those projects effectively threatened the livelihood and identity of Mapuche. Even though most Mapuche are now urban dwellers, the southern ancestral territories remain central to their cosmology, shamanic practices, and identity politics. After the “celebration” of the Columbian quincentenary in 1992, indigenous groups throughout Latin America organized both pan-indigenous and local resistance movements.3 Mapuche resistance movements gained momentum at the end of the 1990s in response to an increasing number of national development projects in Mapuche territories. The two most important such movements, Consejo de Todas las Tierras (Council of All Territories), led by Aucan Huilcaman, and Coordinadora Malleko-Arauco (Malleko-Arauko Coordinator), struggle for the cultural rights, autonomous self-government, and equal political participation of the Mapuche...