ABSTRACT
This chapter explore factors that also influence the diverse proposals and responses that arise in Mapuche cultural politics. A central concern for the elders is the use and recuperation, according to the situation, of mapuzugun, or the traditional Mapuche language. Narrow constructions of aboriginality produce a fixed Mapuche identity linked to the countryside and a lifestyle dedicated to breeding goats and sheep. These beliefs which confine Mapuches to the past delegitimize their present sense of belonging and their struggle for their rights as citizens and Mapuches. Mapuche geographies have shifted considerably since early in the 19th century because of birth of private expropriations of land and to official state actions, such as the military occupation of Patagonia. The vehicles that brought the people from Esquel, in the province of Chubut, and from Bariloche, in the province of Rio Negro, arrived together late at night in the small town situated in the middle of the Patagonian steppe.
