Video length 48 minutes 43 seconds
As Chile struggles to agree on a new constitution, The Big Picture examines whether old prejudices against indigenous peoples still hold the key to their 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” on a new constitution. It would be the most progressive constitution ever proposed by any nation in history, recognizing, among other things, the nationality of the Mapuche, the largest indigenous group in Chile.
But Chile voted “No”.
Various explanations have been advanced as to why a constitution that promised unparalleled rights, representation, and protections for women, the LGBTQ+ community, the environment, and long-marginalized indigenous groups failed to win the majority approval of the Chilean people. But at the dark heart of this denial lies a long-cultivated truth about the country’s relationship with the Mapuche, namely: Chile’s racial problem.
Using the consequences of the 2022 “No” vote, this film examines how race and racism have shaped the myths used to forge the nation of Chile from the early 19th century to the present day. It sets the path for this racialized heritage and myth-making to emerge as a primary driver in the rejection of the proposed new constitution, and shows how the unprecedented land rights it suggested for the Mapuche, as well as defining Chile as a “plurinational” country. ” made up of diverse nations, helped trigger a deep-seated wariness of indigenous peoples among the majority population of Chile. It is, as we discovered, a caution instilled through four centuries of “otherness”, marginalization and racial criminalization of the Mapuche.
As Chile revises the proposed new constitution and removes recognition of various indigenous rights, The big picture: the Mapuche and the myth of Chile he wonders if this moment is the inevitable culmination of the country’s history, curdled around the racist founding myths that have denied and dispossessed the indigenous peoples who first inhabited their land.
Filmmaker: Sanjiev Johal
Photos courtesy of:
penn museum
La Moneda Palace Cultural Center
Chilean National Television
National Historical Museum Collection
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