ABSTRACT
In Chile, the historical inequalities for indigenous people’s access to higher education are beginning to be reverted, but these changes do not account for ongoing disadvantages in regard to experiencing university life. This chapter presents partial success stories from life history interviews with Mapuche students who went on to tertiary education. They are partial precisely because their testimonies reveal the personal strategies and resources that they have needed to draw on in order to remain in the education system, often at high costs. Enduring inequalities compared with more privileged families remain, such as choosing the institution and course that they would study on, since they are based on restricted information sources and prior knowledge, whilst the capital required to succeed in higher education is heavily biased towards higher socioeconomic backgrounds. This notwithstanding, the Mapuche youth also demonstrate spontaneous adaptations to work routines, managing crises, and the activation of other resources for “staying in” higher education. Emphasis is placed on the resilience expressed by these young people, as the first-generation from their families to access higher education, to negotiate cumulative disadvantages from low-quality educational establishments and poverty.
