INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, land and territory

José Bengoa
Academy of Christian Humanism Universidad de Chile
For many centuries the Latin American Indians lived in isolation from urban cent
ers, and even the capitals of state power. They talked about the American heartl
and. There in the vastness of the forests, coasts, unexplored mountains of the h
ills and mountains, inhabited by descendants of the ancient indigenous cultures
of the Americas. In the 1940s, the Mexican anthropologist Manuel Aguirre Beltran
called these places "refuge areas" of the Indians. They lived there for centuri
es, sometimes in a kind of "self-enforced" without too many contacts with the We
stern world.
ISOLATION TO AUTONOMY
For much of the twentieth century the demands of indigenous people and the state
action were aimed at achieving greater "integration" of communities and indigen
ous societies. Many times these policies were more assimilationist than cutting
respectful integration of Indians into the global society. Still, the Indians cl
aimed ways to communicate with cities and communities in this way, it was said,
to get their produce to markets. It demanded schools, police, courts, in short,
the active state presence in these remote places.
AREAS
OF REFUGE AND OPENING OF NEW FRONTIERS
In many Latin American countries these "areas of refuge" were kept isolated unti
l well into the 1960s, that is, when the country lived in relative modernity. Th
is is the case of the slope of the Amazon, where many indigenous people lived in
a totally isolated until
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José Bengoa
sixties begin XX.1 century Although the best known case is not unique. For examp
le, in northern Chile's first road that was opened to the altiplano Aymara commu
nities where they live was built in 1967. Until that time, these communities liv
ed in a very isolated, they communicated almost exclusively in their language, a
nd survived produced in accordance with their traditional and celebrated their r
ituals and festivities. The situation was repeated in many parts of Latin Americ
a. The impact of the opening of these marginal and isolated areas for action by
the state and business was very strong, especially on indigenous peoples. Within
a decade there Amazonian areas whose resources were destroyed, and the native p
opulations were drawn into extremely difficult situations. It was very vulnerabl
e populations, it had no cross-cultural resources to handle the new situation. O
ften this vulnerability was also biologically, since individuals were not immuni
zed against diseases of the majority society. In this context, opening new front
iers and extreme vulnerability of indigenous peoples led to the first ideas on a
utonomy, self-governing territories, guards, in short, territorial spaces capabl
e of protecting these populations from the voracity of the adventurers, settlers
, extractive industries and other forms of expression of the expansive force of
capitalist development in that period. Therefore, in many cases, these territori
es were declared, first, national parks, in order to protect the flora and fauna
, "passing", the people who lived there. These policies in the Amazon and on the
slopes leading to the great river, and in some coastal areas, as the Colorados
in Ecuador, were quickly criticized, not only by environmentalists and environme
ntalists but also by pointing to Indian treated human beings as part of nature.
THE
FIRST REGIONAL EXPERIENCES
From those experiences came the first territories failed with some degree of ter
ritorial autonomy and internal organization, and
1 A comprehensive study on the status of the territories of the Amazon is the bo
ok indigenous land rights and ecology in the rainforests of America (Bogotá: Fun
dación Gaia, 1992). This study analyzes the situation of land tenure, the demarc
ation of indigenous territories and environmental situation of the indigenous co
mmunities at the beginning of the 1990s. The study is the result of the meeting
in Villa de Leyva, Colombia, attended by experts and indigenous leaders from Bra
zil, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Peru and other countries. Unfortunately, a decad
e after diagnosis, concern remains valid.
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, land and territory
151
were then converted to a large extent, models for what was to come later in the
region.€In Panama, the existence of communities Kuna, Embera and Guaymi in extre
me isolation led to the Government, in the late 1960s, to establish a regional s
ystem known as "regions." This is a very isolated area of America, the only one
in which there is no road communication with the neighboring country, Colombia.
In the islands called San Blas Archipelago of Kuna is organized. There he perfor
med one of the first experiences of indigenous self-government, facilitated larg
ely by the remoteness and inaccessibility of the place, the strong tradition of
participation of the Kuna and, in some way by the structural weakness of the Cen
tral Government of Panama, which delegates Indians in the control and management
of these regions. Many international NGOs such as Cultural Survival, and other
well-known ", supported with training resources and experience that will be deta
iled later. In Ecuador, the Salesian Fathers had developed for many decades a mi
ssion on the banks of the Napo River, a tributary of the Amazon, the Indians Shu
ars, formerly known and misnamed "feral." In this region began to develop a proj
ect based on a radio station that broadcast its messages in the native language
and was run by themselves or Shuaras Shuars. When the lands of the east were ove
rrun by the state oil companies, settlers and adventurers, we attempted to form
a federation of communities that serve as defense and protection of these lands
not only the Indians but also of their cultures and resources. The federation, s
upported by the missionaries, negotiated with the State and the Government of th
e time for which I will deliver title to the Indians, but not private but collec
tive, that is, to be set a lot of territory Shuara . Although not every responde
nt was achieved, the Shuar Federation, and called the organization "was transfor
med into a kind of self-government system in the territories of the Shuar commun
ities. These two successful examples of indigenous policy led to appreciate the
issue of territorial autonomy in the 1970s and early 1980s. Thus, compared to th
e situation raised in the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua where the Miskito Indians
and other local groups opposed the policy of annexation of the new Sandinista go
vernment, declared the autonomy of the territory of the Nicaraguan Atlantic coas
t, and so this is became the first territory with domestic legal systems and est
ablished in the Constitution of that country. A few years later (1990), when the
reform of its Constitution, Colombia developed a system of territorial autonomy
called "indigenous reservations." This was an institution and a name from the S
panish colony, which was granted a new
152
José Bengoa
dimension. The colonial structure was similar to the concept of "reservation" or
"reservations" indigenous applied in the United States and other countries. A s
ystem of protection of indigenous peoples and, in turn, apart from the rest of s
ociety. The 1990 Constitution established modernized this concept guarded territ
ories in which indigenous people can develop their policies, govern themselves a
nd play their cultures. They have a certain independence from the rest of the co
untry's administrative organization, as we shall see.
EMERGENCY
INDIAN AND AUTONOMY
In the late 1980s, and in particular in the 1990s, occurred in Latin America, a
native effervescence-mobilization, organization and demands, to which we have ca
lled "the Indian Emergency in Latin America reached 0.2 This massive mobilizatio
n its peak around the holidays and commemorations of the fifth centenary of the
arrival of Christopher Columbus to America. For Europeans it was a celebration o
f discovery, and for the Indians became five hundred years of resistance. There
were therefore very strong mobilizations in Ecuador, Guatemala, Chile, Bolivia,
and in 1994 broke the Indian insurgency in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. Whe
n discussing indigenous programs, the concept of autonomy reappeared in the cent
er of the lawsuits. This autonomy appears to indigenous movements as the culmina
tion of the recognition by the wider society and the state of their collective r
ights, the specificity of their own culture, the ability to exercise self-determ
ination. Emerges as a target down the road of building a personality. The messag
e and the demands have changed: the Indians are not asking and to be integrated,
but on the contrary, protected from the harmful effects of integration.€When as
ked for ways to bring their products did not imagine that in the opposite direct
ion come tens of spontaneous settlers, traders, provocative and usurpers extract
them much of their resources, if not all. For most integration became destructi
on and destruction not only in culture but also of resources and, often, even ph
ysical and biological.
2
See Bengoa, José: The emergence indigenous in Latin America. Santiago / Mexico:
Fondo de Cultura Economica, 2000. This book looks at what has been this process
of building a new indigenous consciousness in Latin America.
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, land and territory
153
Since the 1950s there was a strong migration of peasants and indigenous people t
o the cities. There many of them were able to study, prepare, even learn other e
xperiences. Therefore, in the late 1980s began to emerge a kind of Indian leader
totally different from the past: one with knowledge of Western culture and ofte
n in college. A person who handled admirably between his rural community and the
capital, establishing relations with foreign countries. It was a very broad sec
tion of leaders who carried out the "emergency indigenous" in the region. They k
now what is happening in other parts of the world. The international experience
of autonomy of indigenous peoples, including Greenland, had also influenced the
indigenous elites. Many of these leaders traveled to conferences and meetings in
which they met those experiences. Very important was the opening of the Working
Group on Indigenous Peoples United Nations, which meets annually in Geneva and
brings together people from around the world. In these discussions was especiall
y relevant the concept of autonomy, which became an everyday term for the indige
nous leadership. The massive presence of Indians in cities has led to the emerge
nce of a new ethnic identity in many Latin American countries. Speaking of the n
ew identities back to the field of migration back and forth. In these new connec
tions with other indigenous cultures, their main demand is emerging: that of aut
onomy.
DE
THE QUESTION OF DEVELOPMENT TO THE QUESTION OF AUTONOMY
In rural communities in the 1960s and 1970s the Indians were not talking about a
utonomy, but of development, construction of roads and schools, integration into
the global society. In cities, urban organizations of migrants, and also in uni
versities, the Indians began to speak of indigenous rights, autonomy, political
control, participation in national political life of multiethnic societies, mult
icultural, educational multicultural, indigenous territories, territorial rights
, cultural heritage, in short, colectivos.3 rights
3 The origin of the concept of autonomy are indigenous regional experiences in E
urope, in which the Inuit of Greenland is the most important. The UN meeting on
"Indigenous Autonomy" was held in Nuuk, Greenland, in 1991, and we were fortunat
e to participate. Latin was the main speaker Williamsem Augusto Diaz, a Guatemal
an, who addressed the issue of the meaning of the new name (see documents of the
Working Group on Indigenous Peoples. United Nations, 1992).
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José Bengoa
Indigenous youth scholars began to build boundaries between indigenous and non-i
ndigenous. These new identities began to return to the field. The urban Indian l
eadership established a new relationship with their communities.
MEANING
Of indigenous autonomy
What does autonomy to indigenous Latin Americans? It is a confusing concept. For
some it is a sort of relative independence, a kind of self-government. For othe
rs it is only the ethnic affirmation. Some people speak of "dual citizenship", i
e be a citizen of the country, with all rights and indigenous citizen, also with
all derechos.4 Some limit the autonomy at the local level, and others speak of
regional autonomy. The latter would be a form of federalism. Colombia understand
s autonomy as an internal control by indigenous peoples themselves in reservatio
ns called "safeguards." The same is true in the "regions" regions of Panama. The
discussion raised in Mexico after Chiapas, especially the San Andrés accords, h
as further confused the debate. The influence of indigenous people in developed
countries has become even more complex discussion of autonomy,€because there has
been discussed a new way of exercising the "right to self-determination of peop
les." Greenland Inuit autonomy is practically a spatial segregation. In Australi
a, Canada, New Zealand and other developed countries discussed the delivery of h
uge territories to indigenous self-government with highly developed systems such
as the Saami Parliament in Norway. In Latin America alone there are similar cas
es in the Amazon and tropical areas, the Atlantic coast, the Kuna, and others of
that type. Most indigenous territories shared with non-indigenous. In Chile, as
in many other places, there is no region where the indigenous population is mor
e than non-indigenous. Indigenous autonomy, however, has become a "battle flag"
and reaffirming the willingness to maintain the quality of Indians. The struggle
for autonomy is in practice in the struggle for indigenous rights, different ri
ghts of all citizens. Recognition of these economic, cultural and political is t
he essence of autonomy. It is, therefore, a very complex application,
4 De la Peña, Guillermo: Preliminary Notes on the "ethnic citizenship." Guadalaj
ara: XX International Congress of the Latin America Studies Association (LASA),
Guadalajara, April 1997.
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, land and territory
155
which can range from finding or autonomous territories detached from the rest of
the country, to attempt to get right in practice allow the "decolonization" of
Latin American societies. The "emergency indigenous" into the search for some de
gree of autonomy of these peoples, the most radical and stronger demand while tr
ansforming the whole of Latin American societies. These companies were built on
the basis of a colonial segmentation of the population. Republics were founded i
n the colonial relationship. The emergence of indigenous 1990s challenged the ve
ry foundations of social and political shaping of our countries. What will happe
n to this process? It is not easy even to know, since before he opens the path o
f repression, cooptation, of oblivion and of possible transformations and full o
f hope for a more just future.
LANDS, TERRITORIES AND NATURAL RESOURCES
The question of land has traditionally been the main demand of indigenous Latin
Americans. This theme has been progressively opened up to increasingly complex d
imensions. Before it was to protect indigenous lands from the voracity of buyers
or simply invaders. Today the issue is open to two dimensions: the territorial
and environmental. The territorial dimension is to understand the earth as a mat
erial resource and the cultural and political support of the existence of a peop
le. This is called territory. It is not only the productive value of the land, b
ut, particularly, its symbolic value, it is the area of reproduction of social m
embership or, more directly, as reflected in some of the "Nation" 5 second dimen
sion is environmental. The indigenous movement linked very strongly with the env
ironmental movement, has developed a discourse that is not just about indigenous
land claim but also to preserve, enhance, recover (usually they are severely da
maged), and finally, carry out development sustainable. It binds to this perspec
tive, the rapid expansion of mining companies, most of which are located in indi
genous territories. In one of his reports, the International Labour Organization
(ILO) said:
5
The term "Indian Nation" is often used to express the will of the leadership of
those who belong to it. In Ecuador, the main organization called the Council of
Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador.
156
José Bengoa
Along with the invasion of ancestral lands, one of the biggest attacks faced by
indigenous peoples is the plundering of their natural resources, which have been
and are still subject to the greed of powerful economic interests, which is at
the origin of bloody and painful episodes. In many cases, the habitat of many in
digenous communities have suffered irreparable damage and business of exploratio
n and exploitation of these resources have been responsible for the destruction
of livelihood, if not of ethnocide of its members. In particular were the forest
communities that have suffered this aggression, but not the only ones. In more
recent times, thanks to the mobilization of indigenous peoples themselves to the
consciousness which is being acquired by the need to preserve the ecological en
vironment,€and the power of the media, this dispossession has ceased to be cover
ed by the cloak of silence, and we are witnessing a healthy reacción.6
One of the most complex is the ownership of natural resources. In all countries
the state owns the subsurface mineral resources. The same applies to maritime an
d lake resources. The ILO Convention 169 ventured cautiously in this complex sub
ject in its article 15:
1. The rights of the peoples concerned in the natural resources on their lands s
hall be specially safeguarded. These rights include the right of these peoples t
o participate in the use, management and conservation of these resources. 2. If
the State retains the ownership of mineral or subsurface resources or rights to
other resources pertaining to lands, governments shall establish or maintain pro
cedures to consult the peoples concerned, to determine whether the interests of
these people would be affected and to what extent, before undertaking or permitt
ing any programs for the exploration or exploitation of existing resources on th
eir land. The peoples concerned shall wherever possible participate in the benef
its of such activities, and receive fair compensation for any damage they may su
ffer as a result of these activities.
The issue has been addressed also in some constitutions. Thus, Bolivia's Constit
ution recognizes the right of indigenous peoples and sustainable use of natural
resources on their lands. The Brazilian states:
6
INCLUDE THE EXACT DATE.
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, land and territory
157
[...] The use of water resources, including energy potential, the search and ext
raction of mineral wealth on Indian lands can only be made with the authorizatio
n of Congress, after hearing the affected communities, is assured of participati
on in the results extraction, in the form of law.
Ecuador's Constitution recognizes indigenous people the right to:
[...] Participate in the use, enjoyment, management and conservation of renewabl
e natural resources which are on their land, and to be consulted on the plans an
d programs of exploration and exploitation of nonrenewable resources which are o
n their land and that may affect environmentally or culturally, participate in t
he benefits that these projects report as soon as possible and to receive compen
sation for socio-environmental damage they cause.
That of Nicaragua recognizes the Atlantic Coast communities the right to: "[...]
enjoyment, use and enjoyment of the waters and forests of their lands." As can
be seen, does not recognize ownership or exclusive use of natural resources, but
maintains the need for communities to "be consulted" very complex issue when de
aling with indigenous sectors very poor and easily manipulated by authorities or
directly by stakeholders, public or private. A case brought by the ILO expresse
s well what is happening. Maria Luisa Acosta presented the case of the legal def
ense of an Atlantic community against a logging concession granted by the Govern
ment of Nicaragua to a Korean company whose activities affected their lands. One
of the major difficulties that faced the interested parties to enforce their ri
ghts derive from the fact that although the 1987 Constitution recognizes the Atl
antic Coast communities their rights to ancestral territories, ten years after i
ts promulgation and have adopted the Statute of Autonomy of the two Atlantic Coa
st regions, the latter has not yet been regulated, making it very difficult to a
pply. The affected community also did not have title to the lands they tradition
ally occupied, which is why the only legal source that could invoke a constituti
onal text was plain sick. After various vicissitudes, and the rejection of vario
us resources, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court finally upheld an
appeal under the provision declared invalid for failing to comply with the oblig
ation to discuss with the plenary session of the Regional Council, which however
the administration went ahead with the procedures for issuing and logging actua
lly began. Finally,
158
José Bengoa
In February 1998 the concession was canceled and in March the same year the comp
any announced that its dealership ceased operations. Despite its positive outcom
e for indigenous communities involved, if sobering, as the Supreme Court decided
in favor of community based on procedural criteria€but did not rule on the much
more thorny question: the right to ancestral territories and to the enjoyment o
f their natural resources. Dr. Acosta concludes by highlighting that it is essen
tial to complete the demarcation law constitutional provisions. As she notes, th
e rule of law should provide legal means of settlement to resolve disputes arisi
ng in connection with the exploitation of the land on which indigenous communiti
es claiming historical rights. Without doubt, this is one of the outstanding iss
ues in Latin America. And if not addressed properly, will be a source of serious
conflict in the future. The Indians claim the natural resource management, whic
h comes into dispute and conflict with the exploitation of these resources by co
mpanies and also by the state. It is not easy to generalize and establish recipe
s around the way they should resolve these complex issues. However, if no respec
t for indigenous land rights, these communities are deprived of a resource that
is rightfully theirs. The demand for land continues to be one of the most import
ant indigenous agendas. In Ecuador, in July 2001, the Confederation of Indigenou
s Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) has built a platform that can be seen as pro
totypical both its length and detail of the requirements:
Recognition of ancestral land titles Tambala, Carihuairazo of Chiquicagua in Pic
hincha, communities C. Toglia, C. Inga Low, As Board, in Chimborazo communities
Corporation COCAN MAG-called Pachamama, C. Tuculay and Pastaza, those of Zaparos
, Rumiñahui, and Cooperative Guayusa. In Guayas, that of Campo Alegre, in Sucumb
ios, land Siona Nation. Donation is required in land Comodato Camp Las Vinas Tun
gurahua, UPCCC: CREA-Farm Burgaya in Canar. There is also the allocation of land
that is land trials in Pichincha, Azuay, Zamora, Sucumbíos, Loja.
CONAIE demand the state to create a fund for the purchase of land, and the inves
tigation of possession of ancestral lands. In Chile the Indian Act of 1993 creat
ed a Land Fund that allows the State to acquire land from individuals and given
free to
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, land and territory
159
indigenous communities. The government has promised delivery of 150 000 ha of la
nd, but is far from achieving that goal. The issue is not minor. In most countri
es with indigenous populations are ancient disputes over the territories, which
are a source of many conflicts. The search for mechanisms for restitution, such
as land trusts, it seems useful to solve these issues. To summarize, we should s
ay that there has been a shift in the debates from the claim and demand for land
to the territorial claim, which, as we have tried to explain, is not the same.
However, land claims are still valid, because they come from ancient disputes. T
he demands wider territorial character have to do with the exercise of collectiv
e rights, specifically the concept of autonomy that here we have tried to explai
n.
AUTONOMY OF THE POLITICAL POWER
Will changing the situation of indigenous peoples in Latin America? Will complet
ed a cycle marked by the demands of autonomy and will have started another in cl
aiming full citizenship and the right of access to formal political power of the
state? The emergence of indigenous 1990s was able to build one of the most impo
rtant ethnic discourse in the recent Latin American culture. Faced with the clai
ms of the indigenous populations or by new "surveys", societies have become awar
e of its existence. The socio-cultural recognition, which is evident, has been a
ccompanied in some cases for legal recognition in the constitutions of the count
ries of the region. But that legal recognition has rarely been translated into p
olitical practices different from traditional ones. In the hemisphere, the recog
nition has not been reflected in the Charter of Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a
draft of which is stalled in both the Organization of American States (OAS) and
United Nations (UN). That speech, of enormous force convener, has filled felt th
e action of numerous groups, to the extent that it has "revealed" that the so-ca
lled "equality" was formal and widespread miscegenation was a mystifying situati
on of these societies, voluntary, that does not hold in everyday life and materi
al, in which people ("people") which was étnico7
7 Much of what is said here also applies to populations of African descent (see
results of the seminars and meetings of the Working Group on Minorities
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José Bengoa
are in the most depressed areas of these societies, and are the poorest and most
excluded. However, that proposal has not been able to build neoindigenista alte
rnatives of political action, and has been rather in the discursive field of def
ense and former argument moral.8 The contradiction has led in the past five year
s-that is, early XXI century ", to the differentiation of ethnic and ethno-racia
l movements, whether in the case of countries or societies where they are the ma
jority, or those in which they are minority. In cases in which these movements a
re in the majority-indigenous Bolivia and Ecuador, mainly Guatemala and to a les
ser extent, "the discourse of" ethnic affirmation "of indigenous groups has tran
sformed the entire town into a" people Indian. " In high density areas and indig
enous majority, the highlands, for example, has been building a concept of ethni
c nationality in the country that joins the indigenous being, a condition that n
ow belongs to the whole population, with only exception of Western or Westernize
d elites openly. People previously classified as mestizos, cholos, Indians and p
easants unite under the common name of "indigenous." The concept of "autonomy" a
nd not only is not necessary, but even counterproductive. Indeed, who today rais
ed the proposal in Bolivia are autonomous non-indigenous (eg rich Santa Cruz pro
vince of Santa Cruz). The Indians, and rightly so, have become aware of their ma
jority status. In this case, the indigenous process of emergence during the 1990
s came to put the "indigeneity" of the people on a broader level, and broke and
the discrimination that made symbolic part of that people do not identify with t
heir "indigeneity "Days: 9
8
9
United Nations. Meetings of La Ceiba, Honduras, and Chincha, Peru, on the websit
e for the High Commissioner for Human Rights). It is not the subject of this wor
k, but more practical space for this discourse has been the municipal level. The
re are many municipalities that have been made by indigenous mayors and have beg
un to take an action to recapture the dignity and appropriate development progra
ms, of much interest (see Ospina, Pablo and Anthony Bebbington: Indigenous Munic
ipalities Program Rimisp: Research Ecuador and Peru. Our research, Fondecyt Iden
tity and Identities Project in Chile, there are three indigenous municipalities
in southern Chile: Puerto Saavedra, Chol Chol and Alto Bio Bio (<www. identidade
s.cl>). In Chile, unlike countries with indigenous majorities, the self-declared
indigenous population has been highlighted with increasing clarity. For example
, the Population Census of 1992, a broad question about whether self-declared pa
rty or belonging to any of the indigenous cultures Nationwide, more than a milli
on people said yes (counting
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, land and territory
161
Neoindígenas majorities have become the great destabilizing forces of the state
in question as the foundations of political democracy in these countries which w
as based on the non-existence of indigenous people as a social force in the wide
spread miscegenation predominantly Western European [ ...].
In the case of small indigenous peoples, confined to specific territorial areas,
where ideas about racial mixing and the formation of the society have strong po
pulation base, has been building an indigenous discourse much more closely relat
ed to the right of minorities. In these cases, the discourse of "indigenous emer
gency" is linked to the issue of autonomy, to establish a specific location with
in the country or society. They are built so "defense companies" or "resistance
societies." It becomes important that the concept of "minority" and the rights a
ssociated therewith. In these cases arise locally attractive proposals to raise
the possibility of exercising the features of the world, indigenous culture, con
trol of resources, institutional management, intercultural and bilingual educati
on, in short, a way of developing different character from the rest of society.
It seems, therefore, that the cycle of ethnic emergence, as was experienced in t
he nineties of the century just past, tends to change or, in some cases, to dry
up.€The major proposals that seemed valid for all American Indians and appear to
have the same force. For example, the Declaration of Indigenous Rights of the O
AS, copies of the draft United Nations and the ILO Convention 169, has no force
convener who was fifteen years ago when it started processing. The influence, es
pecially in this case, the views of Native Americans and Canadians, and their pa
rticular situation in developed societies and states deal with the problems of p
overty and exclusion of indigenous Latin American masses, has adversely affected
it. The Anglo-Saxon societies, which is completely absent
those over 14 who were consulted and under-age members of their families). In 20
02, the question was more specific and referred to membership, and reduced the a
mount of self-declared indigenous population over 300 thousand people. However,
the fine study of the figures shows that although decreased in urban areas who i
dentify themselves as indigenous, increased dramatically in rural areas where it
has occurred in the last ten years a process of "ethnogenesis" as a result of a
ccelerated indigenous laws and programs of affirmative action.
162
José Bengoa
the concept and practice of miscegenation, analyze and understand the Indian pro
blem from a completely different view of Latin America, in particular by the fac
t that in many countries of the region's indigenous minorities are not enclosed
in "reservations" but majorities circulating in every city and are permeated all
areas of social and political life. In some cases this happens nationally, and
in others, as in Chile, at the regional level.