Descolonizar la economía: espacios de economías diversas y ontologías mapuche en Alto Biobío, Chile

Abstract

Mapuche economies have been commonly described as closed and focused only on subsistence, making the ways in which they contribute to and diversify the economy invisible. Examining the case of Trekaleyin, a Mapuche-Pewenche tourism initiative in Alto Biobio, this paper explores the economic context in which it was developed from a diverse and de-colonial perspectives. Based on fieldwork using ethnographic and Participatory Action-Research methodologies, this article brings together debates within geography on diverse economies and post-development and elements of Mapuche ontologies. The results presented, then, are based on the recognition and detailed analysis of multiple practices, actors and ontologies at play within these economic arrangements, which reach beyond capitalism. The paper concludes by considering these diverse elements, which are usually excluded from the economy, are key in recognizing the performative, hybrid and negotiated nature of economic arrangements, and in moving towards a decolonization of ideas and practices on the economy and development.