Neoliberalismo Multicultural en El Chile Postdictadura: La Política Indígena en Salud Y Sus Efectos en Comunidades Mapuches Y Atacameñas

Abstract

En este artículo analizamos el proceso de construcción del campo de la salud intercultural en Chile, asociado al nuevo marco ideológico-conceptual que hemos definido como neoliberalismo multicultural. Este contexto tiene como punto de inflexión la vuelta a la democracia a inicios de los años noventa y la continuidad del modelo económico impuesto durante el régimen dictatorial anterior. Paradoja que se traducirá en presiones desde la agencia estatal-trasnacional hacia las organizaciones indígenas, por incorporar las prácticas curativas indígenas al aparato público, fomentando así a su progresiva burocratización y neoliberalización. Finalmente examinamos los efectos colaterales de este tipo de intervenciones en salud en experiencias interculturales de organizaciones mapuches y atacameñas, principalmente en relación a la profesionalización del conocimiento indígena y la creación de expertos que este tipo de programas promovió.Palabras claves: neoliberalismo multicultural, salud intercultural, mapuches y atacameños. This article analyzes the formation of the field of intercultural health in Chile associated with the ideological-conceptual framework we have defined as multicultural neoliberalism. This context emerges with the restoration of democracy in the early 90's and the continuity of the neoliberal economic model imposed during the previous dictatorship. Paradoxically, due to pressures on indigenous organizations, from state and transnational agencies, to incorporate indigenous healing practices into the public system, progressive bureaucratization and neoliberalization were fostered. Finally, the side effects of such interventions in health onAtacameño and Mapuche intercultural experiences were examined in relation to the professionalization of indigenous knowledge and the creation of experts promoted by these programs.

Chile’s role in global health diplomacy: a narrative literature review

“…Convention 169 of the International Labour Organization (ILO) on indigenous peoples has significantly influenced new regional approaches, including Chilean efforts to construct a cross border political space for indigenous populations (primarily Aymaras) in Chile, Peru and Bolivia to reduce conflictual tensions between the three countries [ 23 ]. Pressure from both international and regional NGOs, in turn, has led Chile to initiate formation of a field of intercultural health aimed at incorporating indigenous healing practices into the public health system, while proposing pathways to the professionalization of indigenous health knowledge and practice for two indigenous groups in the Chilean territory [ 33 ].…”

“…In other words, what is driving the integration of health into foreign policy are not security interests (at least not singularly) but a shared morality and duty to contribute to lasting health improvements amongst vulnerable populations globally. While cosmopolitan theory is least present in the literature we reviewed, some of the articles nevertheless draw on ethical arguments in their focus on health problems in specific populations, such as the professionalization of indigenous knowledge of native populations [ 33 ] or the urgent need for developing a better understanding of the relationship between migration and health [ 14 ].…”

Mapuche political dissent in the context of neoliberal governance: the recuperation of ancestral land as a process of indigenous emancipation in Arauco Province, Chile

“…If these conditions are not given, risks are high that people will refuse to participate, or, finally will conform themselves to the standards of the external interventions (following the multicultural logic). This are the cases of several experiences described, for example, by authors criticizing the impacts of multicultural programmes regarding urban indigenous participation (see Antileo, 2013), or the traditional medicine (see Bolados García, 2012;Cuyul, 2013). At the Museum, in turn, from the first day of the reformation process, the performance of ceremonies and the Mapuche protocol in each meeting was supported by the Direction, as a condition to conduct a Mapuche process.…”

“…Mapuche beneficiaries of these programmes are expected to become micro-entrepreneurs combining small-scale agriculture with commercial activities as part of their livelihood strategies. In short, indigenous development and cultural integration programmes were designed according to a neoliberalmulticulturalist logic of economic individualization and responsibilization which weakens community relations and leads to the commoditization of Mapuche cultural practices (Bolados García, 2012;Richards, 2010). Some of these negative results have recently been acknowledged by the Chilean State.…”

“…On the other hand, the neoliberal-multicultural State opens the doors for the integration of the 'good indigenous', the depoliticized Mapuche, by focusing particularly on individual entrepreneurs as carriers of inoffensive cultural elements such as handicrafts, natural medicine, tourism, gastronomy, etc., susceptible to be commoditized (for the Mapuche case, see Boccara and Ayala, 2011;Bolados García, 2012).…”