Some considerations on the construction of the native imaginary of the Araucanía

Abstract

The aborigines of the Araucanía have been object of studies by the different disciplines of the social sciences from the century XIX onwards. However, the various interpretations have led to this knowledge in distinct perspectives, motivating varied controversies. As a result of this situation - and since the last thirty-eight years - a polarized image of these natives has been constructed.
But this image in Chilean society – which we call imaginary – is also the result of a series of doings and behaviors that are at odds with national coexistence, without prejudice to the legitimate demands that motivate them.
Unaware of the social organization of these aborigines, the various media communication had highlighted the reprehensible acts of violence, relying on the various value judgments issued by representatives of the political class, whose knowledge of the natives of the Araucanía lacks erudition.
For these reasons we consider it fundamental to remember the contribution made over the years by ethnohistory, anthropology, history and archeology, since they have been avoided and, in some cases, manipulated to strengthen a different and distant image of that reality in the citizenship.