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Indigenous Interference: Mapuche Use of Radio in Times of Acoustic Colonialism
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2022
Abstract
Since 1993 to the present, a group of Mapuche activists has aired the bilingual radio show Wixage anai! in Santiago, Chile; on the other side of the Andes, another Mapuche collective, the Equipo de Comunicación Mapurbe, produced and broadcast a series of brief radio programs between 2003 and 2005 in Bariloche, southern Argentina. In this article, I argue that these radio programs constitute an exercise of Mapuche agency that challenges what I call the acoustic colonialism of corporate and criollo mass media in both countries. This article illustrates how Mapuche activists creatively use radio as a connective medium among Mapuche communities and a space for the public audibility of their own voices, sounds, and modes of speech. I analyze the history, cultural politics, and performative features of these two initiatives, engaging theoretical and critical views on sound media, state cultural policies, and politics of indigenous agency.
Resumen
Desde el año 1993 hasta hoy, un grupo de activistas mapuche han puesto en el aire el programa radial bilingüe Wixage anai! en Santiago, Chile; al otro lado de los Andes, otro colectivo mapuche, el Equipo de Comunicación Mapurbe, produjo y emitió una serie de breves programas radiales entre el 2003 y el 2005, en Bariloche, sur de Argentina. En este artículo, planteo que estos programas radiales constituyen un ejercicio de agencia Mapuche que desafía lo que denomino el “colonialismo acústico” de los medios masivos corporativos y criollos en ambos países. Este artículo ilustra cómo activistas mapuches creativamente usan la radio como un medio conectivo entre comunidades mapuches y un espacio para la audibilidad pública de sus propias voces, sonidos y modos de habla. Analizo la historia, la política cultural y los rasgos performativos de estas dos iniciativas, incorporando enfoques críticos y teóricos sobre medios sonoros, políticas culturales y políticas de agenciamiento indígena.
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- Research Article
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- Copyright
- Copyright © 2013 by the Latin American Studies Association
Footnotes
I would like to acknowledge the generous help of June Erlick, Barbara Corbett, Amy Olen, and Adam Coon in the process of editing this article. I thank Shane Greene, Alfio Saitta, and Matthew Van Hoose for their insightful comments on an earlier draft of this paper, which I presented at Indiana University on October 19, 2012; and also thanks to the many colleagues who provided feedback to me on a more advanced version of this article that I presented in the conference on “Language and Democracy” at the University of Miami on March 22, 2013. Finally, 1 am grateful to the two anonymous reviewers as well as the editors of LARR for all their enlightening recommendations and suggestions.
References
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