Indigenous patrimonialization: observations with regard to the Mapuche case in Chile

Abstract

State protection of indigenous cultural patrimony is an emergent field in the social sciences. Building on neoliberal multiculturalism, this phenomenon is mostly described as a process aimed at the social and economic instrumentalization of indigenous cultural manifestations. This article questions this approach by examining the phenomenon in the juridical field and by understanding indigenous patrimonialization as a process that, while it redefines indigenous sovereignty, simultaneously enables and limits these people’s political action. In order to overcome this presupposition, the article examines the case of the patrimonialization of the Mapuche people in Chile.