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Gordon College

Publication Date

Fall 2005

Program Name

Chile: Culture, Development, and Social Justice

Abstract

This project seeks to explore connections between the neoliberal economic model with the migratory patterns of the mapuche, an indiginous people group in Chile. Since the imposition of neoliberalism the mapuche have been forced to migrate from the country to urban centers in order to survive. Chile has taken control over the majority of mapuche land, forcing an economy of subsistence agriculture on the pueblo. Thus, the youth vacate their communities, migrating to the cities to try and provide a future for their families. In so doing, the influences of the dominant culture permeate nearly every aspect of their lives. The cost of acceptance into society is often the loss of mapuche culture, a cost far too high. Chile must recognize the plurality of culture in order to provide an environment where the mapuche can thrive. The separation of the people from their land cannot exist and autonomy must be given back to the mapuche nation.

Disciplines

Demography, Population, and Ecology | Place and Environment | Social and Behavioral Sciences

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