Global Courant
Video duration 48 minutes 43 seconds
As Chile struggles to agree on a new constitution, The Big Picture examines whether ancient prejudices against indigenous peoples still hold the key to its future.
In September 2022, after three years of widespread protests against crippling economic inequality, the people of Chile went to the polls to vote yes or no for a new constitution. It would be the most progressive constitution ever proposed for a nation in history, recognizing, among other things, the nation of the Mapuche – Chile’s largest indigenous group.
But Chile voted “No”.
Several explanations have been put forward as to why a constitution that promised unparalleled rights, representation and protection for women, the LGBTQ+ community, the environment and long-marginalized indigenous groups failed to win the approval of the majority of the Chilean people. But the dark core of this refusal is a long-cultivated truth about the country’s relationship with the Mapuche, namely: Chile’s problem with race.
Through the fallout from the 2022 ‘No’ vote, this film explores how race and racism have shaped the myths used to forge the nation of Chile from the early 1800s to the present day. It sets the stage for this racial legacy and myth-making to emerge as a primary driver in rejecting the proposed new constitution, showing how unprecedented land rights were proposed for the Mapuche, and defining Chile as a “plurinational” country made up of diverse nations, helped spark a deep-seated wariness of indigenous peoples among the majority Chilean population. It is, as we are discovering, a caution instilled in four centuries of racial “othering”, marginalization and criminalization of the Mapuche.
As Chile revises the proposed new constitution and withdraws recognition of several indigenous rights, The Big Picture: The Mapuche and the Myth of Chile questions whether this moment is the inevitable pinnacle of the country’s history, solidified around the racist foundational myths that have denied and dispossessed the indigenous people who first inhabited the land.
Filmmaker: Sanjiev Johal
Photos courtesy of:
Penn Museum
Cultural Center Palacio de La Moneda
Television National de Chile
Collection Museo Histórico Nacional
The Mapuche and the Myth of Chile | Indigenous rights
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