Quechua in Chile;

the key to the

salvation of an
endangered
culture.
Paloma Benlloch
Universidad Pontificia de Comillas
Metodologa de estudio y anlisis
Traduccin e interpretacin
5th, December, 2014

Cultural pluralism may be the best way to describe the world we live in. Human
History is full with the stories of different civilizations and cultures, big or small, that
interacted and collaborated with each other. Nowadays, we live in a world where
globalization is taking over, and where cultural minorities tend to be forgotten, which in most
cases will probably mean that by the end of the century they will be extinct. One of this
endangered cultures is Chilean Quechua, which according to the 2012 population count
includes 0,9% of Chiles population; so over the last few years the Government of Chile has
tried to develop different strategies and policies to protect the Quechua culture and
language. The purpose of this programs should be to embrace cultural minorities and
encourage the learning and practice of their indigenous languages; so this essay will analyze
the strategies and policies that have been developed by the government and see if they have
been effective enough to keep Quechua from becoming extinct.

Firstly, language is a key factor on maintaining cultures alive. Cultures are transmitted
through our languages, so when languages become extinct we lose part of them as well. We
first learn how to use a language in our families, they teach us the familiar use of a language;
however, the professional and social use of a language is learnt in schools. This means that
the language that children are taught in school is the one that they will eventually use in their
professional future. However, in countries like Chile, where more than one language is
spoken, the main language, in this case Spanish, is the one taught in schools. Moreover, in
the past, indigenous children would sometimes get punish for using their indigenous
languages, and according to an study conducted by Chile's Ministerio de Educacin (2011),
this eventually mean that those kids will eventually stop using their indigenous language not
to be socially rejected. When they grew up, they did not teach it to their children and
research has shown that: Languages not passed on to the younger generation will
eventually die out (Nettle & Romaine, 2000; 4). This may be one of the reasons why the
indigenous languages became endangered, which also meant that none of the minority
languages such us Quechua would ever be spoken in a professional or social environment.
Chiles government has realized that this could mean a big cultural loss for Chile, so in 1996
they passed the Indigenous Law (Ley 19253, 1993) that recognizes the right of the minority
cultures to access a bilingual education, which will allow them to use their indigenous
language in a professional environment too. This new educational system has proved to be a
huge success in embracing cultural differences and in revitalizing ethnic minorities cultures
(Ministerio de Educacin Chileno, 2011) and due to its high demand by indigenous

descendants, the government has created an educational program that is revised every year
and that is common to the whole country (Ministerio de Educacin Chileno & UNICEF, 2010).

Secondly, another way to learn form a culture is to do a historical approach towards

it; understanding the past and the journey that a group of people had to face to become what
they are today, can really give us a new and different perspective on their reality. One way to
learn about a culture's history is reading about it, but maybe the one thing that can really give
us an idea of what was their past like are the material remains, such as historical or sacred
sites. These places can be easy to find when we talk about a major culture, such as the
Roman or Greek Empires, but when we try to find minority cultures' historical sites we find
out that they are usually poorly preserved or even disappeared. One of the reasons for this
misfortune is that most indigenous groups hadn't had any rights recognized by the
government until 2007, when the United Nations published the Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples. By then, Chile had already approved the Indigenous Law (Ley 19253,
1993) and the government was already collaborating with the works to preserve some of the
most important historical sites, including some of Quechuas most important ones.
However, over the last five years Chile's government has progressively increased the States
budget designated to the Indigenous peoples; going from 22.964 million US$ in 2009, to
almost 47.881 million US$ (Gobierno de Chile, 2014), doubling the coverage of their
Education and Indigenous Territory and Cultural Development Programs. This raise in the
budget has allowed different organization working with the government to create more
Scholarship's for children, as well as to work on the preservation of different historical sites
and buying back lost territories, or even resuscitating traditional economic activities of the
Quechua peoples like sheep keeping (Gobierno de Chile, 2011), which will also mean that
they will eventually be contributing to keeping the Quechua culture alive.

Lastly, support can not only be external, meaning economical support. In order to
really help minority cultures the relationship between the main government and the minority
ethnic groups needs to be very close. Not only should the government develop institutions
that recognize the minorities rights and defend them, but they need to build up organizations
that can get them across to the population. Furthermore, if we want the indigenous minorities
not to feel ashamed or afraid of their origins (Ministerio de Educacin Chileno, 2011) and
instead help them pass their roots to the younger generations, they have to feel wanted and
important to the country, their voices have to be heard. Chiles actual President, Michelle
Bachelet, recently stated that: "The more diverse our society is, the more possibilities we will

have of living peacefully and democratically; and to do that, everyone is necessary. We need
every man and woman, and every Aymaras, Quechuas, Colla, Diaguitas, Rapa-Nui,
Mapuches, Kawsqar and Yagn" (Consulta Indigena, 2014). This is the verbalization of the
recent changes that have been taking place in Chile for the last five years: Chile has signed
the International Labour Organizations 169th convention (Oficina Internacional de Trabajo,
2009), where they agreed to directly consult the Indigenous Peoples every time that an
administrative or legislative measurements directly affecting their cultures is proposed.
This new Chile, where the Indigenous People actively participates in the government has
already proven to be a success like we have seen in the 2010 Census consult or the
Education Law and Ministry of Indigenous Affairs upcoming consult. Moreover, Chile's
government has also created some other institutions such as the Indigenous Consults
Webpage (Gobierno de Chile, 2014a), which provides information on the consults as well as
the rights of the indigenous citizens of Chile, or the National Corporation of Indigenous
Development, which tries to coordinate and accomplish the Chiles national policies towards
the wellbeing of the indigenous population (CONADI, 2014a). All these initiatives have
accomplished their goal, which was to represent and bring minorities cultures, such as
Quechua, closer to the government management, so that they will have their rights
recognized and so that they can live on and continue to enriching Chiles culture by enlarging
their population, as we have seen in the latest census (Instituto Nacional de Estadsticas,
2012).

To conclude, for all the reasons mentioned and analyzed above: Language protection
and development, economical support, and the focus towards the involvement of cultural
minority groups in the countrys politics, we can conclude that the strategies and policies
developed by Chiles Government have been successful in keeping Quechua culture from
disappearing. Although, theres always room for improvement, Chiles Government has
proven itself to be a country that can embrace, respect, and accepts all cultures and a
country that understands the true meaning of Cultural Pluralism. Through Chiles example we
should all be able to see the wonders that each of our cultures holds and the power and
beauty of bringing people together, leaving our differences aside, to walk towards the future
without forgetting our pasts.

REFERENCES

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