WARREN

HOW WILL WE RECOGNIZE EACH OTHER AS MAPUCHE?
Gender and Ethnic Identity

Performances in Argentina
Author(s): SARAH D. WARREN
Source: Gender and Society, Vol. 23, No. 6 (December 2009), pp. 768-789
Published by: Sage Publications, Inc.
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HOW WILL WE RECOGNIZE
EACH OTHER ASMAPUCHE?
Gender and Ethnic Identity

Performances inArgentina
SARAH D. WARREN
University of Wisconsin atMadison
This article builds on the literature

of "doing" identities through a case study of indige
nous Mapuche in Argentina is a unique place to study indigenous iden
people Argentina.
tities because are not the state or by Argentine society, thus making
they rigidly defined by
social interactions more visible. My analysis shows that "doing" identities is an inherently
intersectional process. Mapuche women engage in gendered interactions to create an
authentic indigenous identity, often for the purpose of gaining rights, emphasizing tradi
tional clothing to become "icons of tradition." Yet, their interactions and choices about
how and when to use traditional clothing highlight the paradoxical ways tradition works.
My analysis suggests that tradition invokes a historical rigidity that constrains women
within certain gender expectations, but it also invokes a sense of community wholeness that
can empower women to define new ways of "doing" gendered indigeneity.
Keywords: collective behavior; social movements, politics; state; nationalism; race!
ethnicity; international/transnational relations
rgentine national perceptions of racial identity compared to other
A Latin American countries are well illustrated in the common saying:

"Mexicans descended from the Aztecs; Peruvians descended from the
Incas; Argentines descended from the boats." This phrase, while usually
meant as a joke, suggests a perception ofArgentina as a country of immi
grants with few or no racial differences. It has the additional effect of
AUT HOR'S NOT E: I would like to thankDana Britton,Bandana Purkayastha and the
anonymous reviewersfor theirthoughtfuland extensivecomments.This article has been
greatly improvedbecause of theirsuggestions. I would also like to thankMyra Marx
Ferree, Gay Seidman, and AmyQuark for theirhelpfulcommentson previous drafts.
GENDER & SOCIETY, Vol. 23 No. 6, December 2009 768-789
DOI: 10.1177/0891243209351293
? 2009 Sociologists forWomen in Society
768
Warren /HOW WILL WE RECOGNIZE EACH OTHER AS MAPUCHE? 769
erasing indigenous peoples from Argentina's history. Indeed, historically,

theArgentine state did little to recognize indigenous peoples or their rights.
Campaigns of physical extermination followed by state-led assimilation

processes have obscured the continuing significance of race. Political
discourse further elides race by replacing racial terms with notions of
class or civilization (Briones 2005; Joseph2000) while simultaneously
implying a process of whitening of indigenous groups (Chamosa 2008).
In 1994, however, Argentina reformed its constitution as part of an overall
democratization process. The reforms included some recognition of indig
enous rights, in turn giving rise to increasing numbers of indigenous poli
tical claims. The shift from a policy of extermination and assimilation to
one of recognition has created space for racial identification as indige
nous. At the same time, it also gives rise to a new puzzle: What happens
when people try to use historically undefined racial categories? In par
ticular, who can claim indigenous identity, and what do indigenous people
have to do to prove the authenticity of this identity? How does gender
shape this identity

work?
The relativelack of historically grounded racial classifications and
markers on which women or men may draw for this performance means
that there are not always obvious ways of "doing" an indigenous identity
(West and Fenstermaker 1995; West and Zimmerman 1987). To look at

the process of "doing" a specific racialized and gendered identity, I ana
lyze the case of the indigenous Mapuche people in southern Argentina.
Mapuche people inArgentina constantly negotiate their identity: how to
define it,what it represents, and how to embody it.A central part of this
negotiation revolves around the difficulty of performing an identity that is

at once authentically indigenous and modern. Argentina offers a particu
larly good place to enhance theories of "doing" an identity, precisely

because of its unique racial classification structure in which indigenous
identities are not explicitly defined by the state, by Argentine society, and
sometimes by indigenous groups themselves. Because people there are not
rigidly bound by physical or phenotypical requirements for a racial iden

tity, there are opportunities to define race through interactions and perfor
mances of identity.
Indigenouswomen play an integralpart inperformingindigenousiden
tity inArgentina. As some authors have noted, women are expected to
physically and culturallyreproduceethnicgroups (Yuval-Davis 1997),
and gender relations are sometimes used to differentiate between one eth
nic group and another (Choo 2006; Espiritu 2001). In performinga
Mapuche identity, some Mapuche women draw from traditional images
and expectationsofwhat an indigenouswoman looks like.They do this
770 GENDER & SOCIETY /December 2009
for two reasons: first, to prove the authenticity of their identity to the
Argentine state,which increasingly claims willingness to uphold indigenous
peoples' rights. Second, Mapuche women draw on these images to sustain
community needs for cultural revival and maintenance. It is through these
interactions thatMapuche women contribute to the very processes that natu
ralize "authentic" indigenous women as traditional. Yet, some Mapuche
women resist this role and its emphasis on tradition.
This researchbuilds on theoriesof "doing" genderby highlightingthe
inherent intersectionality of identity work. Both gender and indigeneity
matter in the construction of Mapuche identities and the ways in which
these identities are made authentic to the state and society. It further builds
on these theories by showing that precisely because they are "doing" inter
sectionality, indigenous women can use expectations about their indige

nous identity to shape-and sometimes define-gender expectations.
In this case, analysis of the interactions in which indigenous women
become the "icons of tradition" highlights the discordant and paradoxical
ways tradition works: Tradition invokes a historical rigidity that con
strains women to conform with certain gender expectations, but it also
invokes a sense of community wholeness that can empower women to
define new ways of "doing" gendered indigeneity.
"DOING" AN UNDEFINED IDENTITY
In their groundbreaking work, West and Zimmerman (1987) argue that

rather than being natural or given, gender identity takes shape through
interactions. In a recent symposium on theirwork, the authors clarify their
central argument, "to make observable what, as we phrased it in 1987,
culture has concealed: the accomplishment of what is taken to be one's
"'natural' or 'essential' nature" (West and Zimmerman 2009, 114). West
and Zimmerman emphasize that gender is accomplished only in interaction
and that gender performance is accountable to the interactants' expecta
tions of sex categorization in the "appropriate" use of behavior, manner
isms, and clothing.
Gender is not theonly identitythat is performedthroughinteraction.
West and Fenstermaker(1995) expand thenotion of "doing gender" to
approach to thesocially
which applies theinteractional
"doingdifference,"
constructed identities of race and class. They argue that just as people are
accountable to a gender category, they are also accountable to race and
class categories. Critics of this approach contend that it does not ade
quately deal with questions of power, historical constraintsand societal
changes for particular groups (Collins 1995; Thorne 1995). Yet, it appears
that theories of doing difference can be fruitfully combined with structural
theories of intersectionality. In their insightful study on Asian feminini
ties, Pyke and Johnson (2003) do just this. Showing how Asian American
women construct gender differently in different cultural contexts, they
argue that gendered performances are inherently intersectional and that
definitions of race based on physical characteristics vie for cognitive
salience with gender as well as give these performances a specific mean
ing and form.

Just as notions of "doing gender" arose from a case (that of "Agnes")
a
inwhich gender was not fixed, a case of "doing difference" in setting in
which racial categories are not rigidly fixed can be particularly illuminat
ing. Research on race and ethnicity suggests that even in the United
States, racial and ethnic categorizations are shifting as boundaries between

groups are redrawn and redefined.1 Thus, some groups, such as Native
Americans and Irish, have seen a rise in the number of people who claim
membership (Hout andGoldstein 1994;Nagel 1995).At the same time,

as multiracial or move between dif
growing numbers of people identify
ferent racial categories (Lee and Bean 2004).
Similar processes are taking place inLatin America, with growing num
bers of people identifying as indigenous, especially as governments recog
nize their indigenous populations and grant them rights (Warren 2001;
Yashar 2005). Latin American racial classifications differ from U.S. ones
in an important way, however: the historical presence of a mixed-race cat
egory. Mixed-racial identity, labeled mestizaje, was often perceived by state

elites in Latin American countries as a positive national racial identity
(Vasconcelos 1997), despite-or sometimes precisely because of-the fact

that it rendered indigenous and African identity invisible. While mestizaje
does not mitigate the hierarchy of racial categories (Appelbaum,
Macpherson, and Rosemblatt 2003), it does provide more flexible options
for individual racial identification. The availability of mixed-race catego
ries often allows individuals tomove between categories with relative ease,
identifying as a member of a different racial group depending on the con
text or on cultural factors, such as socioeconomic status (de la Cadena
2004; Schwartzman2007). The relativelyfluidand flexibleracialboundar
ies inmany Latin American countries mean that "systems of racial classi
fication have drawn as often on cultural as biological criteria. Racial
differencehas been defined according to notions such as civilization,
honor, and education that have been manifested in dress, language, and
religion"(Appelbaum,Macpherson, andRosemblatt2003, 12).
Just as racial classification has long been tied to cultural traits, it has
also been intimately related to notions of modernization and progress. In
many places, especially former colonies, constructing a modem national
meant lookingtowardand emulatingEurope (Appelbaum 1999).
identity
National elites saw indigenous peoples as part of the uncivilized and bar
baric past, and they were not included in processes of modem nation
building. Instead, these modernizing states viewed indigenous people as a

group that needed to be conquered and assimilated, rid of their barbaric
ways, and brought into civilization, a process often invoked through ide
als of a mestizo national identity.
In addition to their racial goals, modernizing state and national projects
are also highly gendered. First, state actors, elite intellectuals, and national
leaders see women as receptacles of cultural knowledge, "producing" the citi
zens of a nation both through literal and cultural reproduction (Appelbaum,
Macpherson, and Rosemblatt 2003; Yuval-Davis 1997) and symbolizing

national identity (McClintock 1997). Second, different actors use gendered
relationships to differentiate between "us" and "them." Yen Le Espiritu

notes that Filipino immigrants use gendered discourse and practices of con
trol over their daughters to "decenter whiteness and locate themselves
above group" (Espiritu 2001, 435). In this way, gendered
the dominant
discourse is used to reinforce ethnic culture by defending the boundaries
between an ethnic minority group and dominant white American culture.
States also use gender relations to "serve as an ethnic marker" between their
"modern" citizens and other ethnic or racial groups (Choo 2006, 579).
States and ethnic groups alike use women and gendered relationships to
represent and legitimize their identity and to improve their social and cul
tural position vis-a-vis other ethnic, racial, or national groups.
Discourses and ideologies of modernity continue to constrain indige
nous politics and create uncomfortable contradictions. Imagined as part of
most countries' pasts, indigenous people in urban areas find it difficult to
prove an authentic identity (Warren 1998). Normal markers of indigenous
identity are absent because urban indigenous people usually dress like
otherurbandwellers,do notwish to relocate to ruralland,are bilingual or
monolingual in thedominant language, and may notmaintain cultural,
spiritual,or ceremonialknowledge (de la Cadena 2000; Reuque 2002).
Lacking these familiarsignsof "authenticity,"
urban indigenouspeoples
are caught in a bind: On the one hand, strengthening links to an essential
ized identity-often believed to exist in a "pure" form in rural areas
(Rappaport 2005)-can legitimate indigenous claims and win allies.
Yet on theother,many indigenouspeople recognize the importanceof
incorporating modem elements in their identity. Diane Nelson captures

this tension in her use of the term "Maya-hacker," inwhich she suggests
that "the Maya are appropriating so-called modem technology and knowl
edges while refusing to be appropriated into the ladino (mestizo) nation"
(Nelson 1999, 249). Yet, this is not an easy task because Mayas, like other
indigenous groups, find that their identity is questioned because they "are
invading a space that is inappropriate for them-the urban, literate, and
mediatized state" (Nelson 1999, 259).
Indigenous women are at the heart of tensions around essential versus

constructed identities, as state and societal expectations about indigenous
identities are intimately tied to gendered performances. For example,
Nelson shows how ethnicity is gendered inGuatemala and how clothing
is used to regulate women's sexuality and participation in national-level
politics, noting that "seeing traje (an indigenous woman's clothing, especially
her skirt) means one is seeing an Indian" (Nelson 1999, 181). Similarly,
indigenous women's represent an appropriate or inappropriate

actions
indigenous identity. Patricia Richards argues that themedia's archetypes

of indigenous women "use assumptions about indigenous women, and the
extent to which they meet the ideal-typical expectations for women's
behavior, to emphasize that there are ways of being Indian that are autho
rized and ways that are not" (Richards 2007, 574). Gendered performances
shape perceptions of appropriate indigenous identities.

Debates about indigenous identitywithin an indigenous community often
emphasize historically "authentic" gender relationships. Many indigenous

groups argue that gender is aWestern concept not applicable to indigenous
peoples, who had complementary, balanced relationships before colonization
(Macleod and Perez-Arminan 2000; Richards 2005). This interpretation
clearly has its problems; it can justify women's subordination tomen under
the guise of complementary relationships. It can also, however, be liberating
for indigenous women, as its focus on equilibrium can give women opportu
nities for participation in community affairs. In places where indigenous
groups are discussing which "usos y costumbres" (traditions) govern internal
affairs,women have been able to utilize notions of gender complementarity
to participateand define these traditionsandwhat theymean forwomen
(Eber andKovic 2003; Speed,Hernindez, and Stephen2006).
Mapuche Women inChile and Argentina

IsoldeReuque (2002), aMapuche feministinChile, notes that
Mapuche
women are not always taken seriously as leaders within Mapuche
organizations, especially if they raise concerns as women. As a result of
this,Mapuche women often eschew the language of gender difference,

instead preferring the language of human and women's rights. Richards
suggests that "By using the concept of rights in conjunction with their
own worldview, Mapuche women can claim Mapuche women's rights and
simultaneously struggle alongside theirmen for the collective rights of the
Mapuche people" (Richards 2005, 216-17).

Mapuche women find itdifficulttoparticipate in leader
Even though
ship positions within Mapuche organizations, politicians and social
movement actors use their image-as symbols representing a traditional,
authentic indigenous identity-for cultural and political legitimacy.
Unlike inArgentina, where Mapuche people are largely invisible to the
majority of society, in Chile, state actors and non-Mapuche citizens see
Mapuche people as an important part of national history and current cul

tural identity. Because of this, political actors use images of Mapuche
women, and Mapuche women themselves, to create legitimacy. Ana Mariella
Bacigalupo notes that in Chile, politicians often invite Mapuche women

machis (shamans) in their full traditional regalia to be seated on stages
or in the background during political speeches and events (Bacigalupo
2004, 506). This kind of visible representation of Mapuche culture-in
the form of aMapuche woman shaman-lends an air of authenticity to the
politicians, showing that they recognize and support cultural diversity in

the country. Mapuche movements in Chile also use indigenous women in
ways that draw on a
stereotypical notions of gendered indigenous identity
to show that their claims are authentic. According to Bacigalupo,
"Mapuche resistance movements have manipulated public images of

female machi in ways that emphasize their roles as icons of tradition.
These images reinforce national gender restrictions while promoting pan
Mapuche agendas"(Bacigalupo 2004, 506). In addition to reinforcing

gender restrictions, these images also draw on an essentialist-and, some
what ironically, nonmodern-version ofMapuche identity. Thus, in Chile,
images of Mapuche women as the "icons of tradition" are used both to
locate indigenous peoples inChile's past, and to bring an air of authenticity
to current political leaders, claims, and movements.
The use ofMapuche women as legitimateand authentic"icons of tradi
tion" inChile stands in starkcontrastto theirinvisibilityinArgentina. In
Argentina, the lack of a visible and authenticindigenousidentity means
that there is no clear way forMapuche people to "perform" an authentic
identity.I suggest thatthis lack of clear indigenousclassificationsmakes
Argentinaan important place to look at howMapuche people "do" gender
and indigeneity.Afteroutliningmymethods, I discussArgentina's system
of racialclassificationand theprocesses through which indigenouspeople
have been made invisible. I then analyze Mapuche women's participate in

the gendered construction of their identity.
Method
This article draws on ethnographic research from three research trips to
Argentina in 2003, 2006, and 2008. The first two tripswere threemonths
each, and the final research trip lasted six months. During these trips, I
interviewed both Mapuche women and men, most ofwhom, though not all,
participate in different Mapuche organizations in the southern Argentine
provinces of Neuquen and Rio Negro. I used a network strategy to con

duct 26 semi-structured interviews with Mapuche people-14 women and
12 men-which lasted between 30 minutes and four hours. I recorded
eight of the interviews. When the interviewee preferred not to be recorded,

I took extensive notes during and after the interview. I use pseudonyms
throughout my analysis.
I interviewed people of different ages and with different levels of participa
tion inMapuche organizations to get a wide array of experiences and perspec
tives. I paid close attention to age differences because of the impact that age
makes on interactions and perceptions of tradition and identity.For example,
older people have a living memory of certain kinds of discrimination
including forced attendance at boarding schools-which might shape their

view ofMapuche identity. In contrast, younger people have grown up in a
context of greater visible Mapuche activism. Because of these differences, I
identifypeople's approximate age inmy analysis.
I conducted all of the interviews in Spanish, in which I am fluent.
Although some of the interviewees speak Mapuzungun, the Mapuche
language, they all felt most comfortable conducting the interviews in
Spanish, although they sometimes inserted an occasional common word

inMapuzungun. In the interviews, I asked about the organization inwhich
the person participates, the political and cultural goals of the organization,
their perceptions about the differences between urban and ruralMapuche
identity, the characteristics one must have to be Mapuche, and the connec
tionsbetween language,clothing,and cultural identity.
Questions about
personal experiences and trajectoriesleading to as
self-identification
Mapuche sometimesfiguredin the interviews.
Along with interviews,a central part of my research comes from
participant observation and analysis of organizational documents,
publications, and news articles. As part of my participant observation,
I attended organizational meetings, Mapuzungun language classes,
and Mapuche ceremonies. Attending these events allowed me to have
informal conversations with more people than I formally interviewed. It

also allowed me to a gain deeper understanding of the desire to revive
Mapuche identity that is at the heart of much Mapuche activism in
Argentina. This was a common theme that arose a

in variety of situa
tions, locations, and conversations. It shapes theways inwhich Mapuche
women conceive of their identity.
In this article, I employ a method of ethnographic analysis that draws
on interviews, Mapuche organizational publications, and newspaper arti
cles. In using these sources, I compare my findings from each source to
validate them. I triangulate data from all three sources to paint a fuller
picture of Mapuche politics and to create a more accurate analysis of the

kinds of relationships between people and organizations that lead to dis
tinct kinds of identity performances.
Throughout my research, I was aware of my positionality as a

researcher from theUnited States, which translated into cultural, linguistic,
and racial differences as well as differences in access to resources. These
differences and my support forwomen's and indigenous rights shaped my
research questions and analysis and my interactions with Mapuche people.
In addition to being aware of how my positionality may have shaped and
constrained responses from people I interviewed, I was also sensitive to
people's desire to refuse an interview with me.

My analysis does not claim to be true for all Mapuche women in
Argentina. In contrast, it represents a subset of Mapuche women who

participate inMapuche cultural and political organizations. This subset of
women is further narrowed by the largely urban focus. Mapuche people in
urban areas inArgentina are outwardly concerned with loss of language
and cultural knowledge. Many urban Mapuche people spoke of looking
for the essence of what itmeans to be Mapuche, a process parallel to that
of indigenous groups in other places (Rappaport 2005). Because
of the
urban setting and the constant contact with non-Mapuche people and
dominant Argentine culture, questions of identity and boundaries between
groups become highly salient in urban areas. It is precisely because of the
fact thatMapuche identity cannot be taken for granted there that I chose
to conductmy studymainly in cities.
MAKING MAPUCHE PEOPLE INVISIBLE
In Argentina, race is a particularly complicated issue. The dominant

discourse in Argentina assumes a homogenous population of descen
dents from European immigrants. This racial imaginary can be traced to
Argentine elites who conceived of the hinterlands of Argentina as an
empty "desert" devoid of civilized people (Radovich 1999). This dis

course justified the Conquest of theDesert in the late 1880s, which had as
its central goals the eradication of indigenous people and the expansion of
Argentina's national borders. Through what amounted tomilitary warfare,

theArgentine military drastically reduced the number of indigenous people
in southern Argentina. Those indigenous people who remained were sub
ject to intense processes of hierarchical integration intoArgentine society

(Quijada 2000, 84). For some, this meant deportation as workers to the
fertile ranches in the pampas (Delrio 2005); for others itmeant forced
attendance at Catholic boarding schools where
speaking the Mapuche
language and practicing Mapuche customs were prohibited.
Processes of integration combined with a whitening discourse to make
indigenous people in Argentina invisible. As Oscar Chamosa argues, in

northern Argentina, people who identified as indigenous in the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries began to identify as criollo, which means mestizo in
Argentina (Chamosa 2008). Although they continued to practice indigenous

customs, these became cloaked in discourses ofmixed identity orwhiteness,
obscuring indigenous identity. Similar discourses continue to obscure race in
Argentina today. Racialization occurs but is defined through references to
culture or civilization. In his study of middle-class porteos, or people from
Buenos Aires, Galen Joseph contends that "Portenios, for example, claim the
European-ness of Buenos Aires and its people, while distancing themselves
from various non-white people and places (e.g., Indigenous people and the
Argentine interior)" (Joseph 2000, 335).
Because of the verbal obscuring of race inArgentina, racial differences
are not openly discussed. Skin color is recognized in conversation and
nicknames, but differences in skin color do not necessarily translate into
perceived racial differences. Many people who have darker brown skin
inArgentina do not identify as indigenous (Briones 2005, 31), nor is it
necessary to have dark brown skin (or even brown hair and brown eyes)
to be indigenous. In fact, Claudia Briones argues that inArgentina "whit
ening has been possible--and many times forced-for indigenous and
afro-descentpeoples" by "the possibilityof an improvedclass position"
(Briones 2005, 32).
Despite the historicprocesses of exterminationand assimilation of
indigenouspeoples inArgentina, theycontinued to survive. In southern
Argentina, Mapuche people came togetherinprovincial-wideorganizations
and began to organize forpolitical rightsafterthereturntodemocracy in
1983. Pressure from indigenous groups coincided with international
momentum and led to an article recognizing the preexisting rights of indig

enous peoples in the 1994 Constitutional Reform. However, the recognition
of indigenous peoples on paper has not always translated into the imple
mentation of rights, and among nonindigenous Argentines, there is uncer
tainty about whether a "real" indigenous identity exists today inArgentina.

One indication of the high level of doubt surrounding the very exis
tence of indigenous people is the regular appearance of op-ed pieces and
letters to the editor in newspapers about this issue. In theDiario Rio Negro,
themain newspaper in the southern Argentine provinces of Neuquen and
Rio Negro, letters that either contest or defend Mapuche identity are pub
lished on a regular basis. A prominent Argentine historian and frequent
letter-writer,Rodolfo Casamiquela, represents a dominant view: Mapuche
people are actually Chileans who migrated toArgentina, and, therefore,
are not deserving of indigenous rights inArgentina (Casamiquela 1998).
PERFORMING MAPUCHE IDENTITY
In response to doubts about the authenticity of Mapuche identity,

Mapuche people inArgentina openly discuss their need to "reconstruct" a
Mapuche racial identity, as many Mapuche people feel that they have lost
a large part of their culture and identity. Processes of identity reconstruc
tion especially resonate in urban areas, where Mapuche people feel
removed from whatthey see as the "authentic" location of their cultural
identity-rural areas connected to nature. The reconstruction process
involves both an awareness of the need to create an identity and a feeling
that there is a real, essential Mapuche identity that exists in rural areas.
Yet, the process of searching for an authentic Mapuche identity in rural
areas often leads to contradictions. One woman in her late twenties noted
that when she returned to the rural Mapuche community of her grand
mother, looking for her roots, she was surprised to learn that she knew
more about Mapuche religious ceremonies than some of the people living
there. "There we were," she said, "looking to this older woman for knowl
edge, and she knew less thanwe did!"
This realization translatesinto a questioningof what itmeans to be
Mapuche in a city,a topicof conversationamongMapuche people who
participate inMapuche organizations. According to aMapuche woman in
her fifties, "Identity is a construction, and because of that, the only way to
maintainMapuche identityand culture is to recreateour identityevery
day, in order to understand itbetter and strengthen it."Yet, for other urban
Mapuche people, it is not always clear what itmeans to live a Mapuche

identity, let alone recreate it.A Mapuche woman in her twenties who has
a two-year-old son noted the difficulty in raising Mapuche children in
urban environments:
Some ofmy friends and I all have young children, and we continually talk
about what we can do to ensure that our children are raised knowing that
they are Mapuche. In the rural areas it's easy; you're just Mapuche. But
here in the citywe are always searching for how to live a Mapuche life.
This statement reflects the tension in urban Mapuche people's perceptions

of what constitutes an "authentic" identity. It is not clear that people in
rural areas are "just Mapuche"; theymight also lack cultural knowledge or
other "essential" traits, as the quote in the proceeding paragraph illustrates.
What is clear is thatmany urban Mapuche people perceive their identity to
be somehow less authentic than a ruralMapuche identity. Because of this,
they self-consciously engage in gendered processes of cultural reproduction.
Icons ofTradition
For many Mapuche women in urban areas in southern Argentina, one

way to a
perform Mapuche identity is to draw on traditional notions of
women, specifically of indigenous women as icons of tradition. Performing
a genderedMapuche identitythat reinforcestraditionalistimages of
women has both potential constraints and benefits. Constraints arise from
different interpretations about historical gender roles inMapuche society:
some Mapuche activists argue that gender relations were complementary
and equitable, whereas others believe that these relationships subordi
nated women tomen, especially in the public arena. Such gender expecta
tions associated with traditionalism lead some Mapuche women to resist
gendered ethnic performances that draw on clothing and other outward
signs of traditional identities. Other Mapuche women, however, see ben

efits to performingtheiridentityin traditionalistterms,especiallywhen
theysee theperformanceof theiridentityas being tied topolitical rights.
GenderedMapuche identitiesaremost visiblyperformedthroughinter
actions involvingtheuse of traditionalclothing.Clothing has symbolic
value: ithas thepower tovisually differentiatea woman in a longwool
dress and silverjewelry(presumptivelyMapuche) fromawoman wearing
slacks or jeans (non-Mapuche). It also is a marker of modernity, as styles
Within urbanMapuche communitiesin
of clothingmarkmodern subjects.
Argentina, discussions about reviving a Mapuche identity often involve

encouraging women's use of some kind of traditional clothing. In discus
sions about this clothing, some Mapuche people cite its health and cultural
benefits for women. One man in his early twenties who is committed to
processes of language and cultural revitalization in cities expressed this
view, noting,
Traditional clothing is important for themaintenance ofMapuche identity

and is also healthier than other clothing. This is especially true forwomen:
long skirts are healthier forwomen, as they allow air to circulate and are
more comfortable forwomen thanpants. In addition,men findwomen very
attractivewhen theywear skirts.Woven belts (fajas) are also very impor
tant.Their designs are symbolic ... And forwomen, they are very health
ful: many women wear pants that sit so low on theirhips, which are not
good for them. Instead, they should use fajas. Afaja supports your back,
and that's especially important forwomen because they are always lifting
heavy things-like babies and food.
This man's support forwomen's use of traditional Mapuche clothing illus

trates gender's central role in the tension between constructing a "mod
em" Mapuche identity and drawing on perceptions of a "pure" identity.
The potential to regulate women in the process of identity creation comes
through in his emphasis on women, their domestic roles (babies and food),
and their sexuality (traditional women's skirts as more attractive to
Mapuche men), although presumably, woven belts would also be benefi

cial to men who lift heavy things. This comment points to the ways in
which gender expectations are connected to clothing, as traditional cloth
ing here signifies more than just Mapuche identity and instead is trans
formed into expectations about women's roles as sexual objects, mothers,
and caretakers of domestic life.
Mapuche menare not the only ones to assert the importance of wearing
traditional clothing for cultural maintenance. Mapuche women do the
same. In describing her activism forMapuche rights, Sylvia, a Mapuche
woman in her sixties,highlightedan event thathad occurred during a
yearly province-wide Mapuche meeting. At this meeting, another older
woman raised a suggestion:All of theMapuche women attendingprovin
cial meetings shouldwear traditionalMapuche clothing throughoutthe
meeting. A debate ensued, with some of the older people--men and
women-arguing thatthisclothingrepresentedtherealMapuche identity,
and thatwearing it showed respectforMapuche identity. Others,mostly
women, opposed thisview, contending that their identityis less about
clothing and more about the knowledge that they are Mapuche. One
woman argued that she spoke Mapuzungun, and, therefore, her identity
was not in question, nor should itbe if she decided towear pants. In retell
ing this story, Sylvia suggested that "women who wear pants to ceremonies
and provincial meetings do so on a whim," an implicit critique that they are
not conforming with community expectations about women's roles but
instead following the fads of themoment. For Sylvia, who is of a genera
tion that suffered societal- and sometimes self-denial of theirMapuche
identity, wearing traditional clothing at ceremonies is not enough: "As
Mapuche women, we should wear our [traditional] clothing all of the time.
Because ifwe don't, how will we recognize each other?" The emphasis on
mutual recognition speaks to the deep concern within Mapuche communi
ties about the need for intracommunity recognition. With few other exter
nal markers of Mapuche identity that would allow Mapuche people to
recognize one another, women's clothing takes on central importance.
Women's role in the community ismade all themore important by their
ability to visually represent Mapuche identity to other Mapuche people.
External Identity Performance
Women also actively create the cultural markers that draw performative
boundaries between Mapuche and non-Mapuche people. Within a promi
nent Mapuche organization in the province of Neuqu6n, the Coordinaci6n
de Organizaciones Mapuche (Mapuche Coordinating Organization, or
COM), women's use of Mapuche clothing reflects an explicit desire to

politicize Mapuche ethnic identity. Both men and women in the organiza
tion dress in jeans and shirts or sweaters on a daily basis, yet they often
change their clothing for interviews and political gatherings. While attend
ing rallies, marches, and other political events, Mapuche women in the
COM don their dresses, woven belts, and jewelry. These women also wear
this traditional clothing during cultural events, and even there a specific
political component to this identity work is visible.

In addition to identity performances during ceremonies and other pub
Mapuche people use othervenues tomake theiridentity
lic events, visible.
ForMapuche women who participatein theCOM, interviews with news
papers, radio stations, and television stations are an important strategy for
increasingvisibility.Mapuche women who participate in theCOM and
give interviewsare aware of theirrole as symbolsofMapuche identity.
Before one interview at a television station, Iwatched two women in their
early thirtieschange fromtheirjeans and sweaters into theirdarkwool
dresses tiedwithwoven beltsbeforegettingina taxiheaded to thestation.
When they arrived, they adorned themselves with trarilonkos (silver head
pieces) and silver breastplates. In the interview, they talked about themean
ing ofMapuche firstnames, the role of the COM as an urban organization
and community, and their claims for bilingual, intercultural education.
After the interview, one of the women said that she is accustomed to
adorning herselfin certain clothing and jewelry and giving interviews,
noting, "It's a role that you have to play." She critiqued the interviewer
and his focus on the traditions and customs of Mapuche people, noting
that she had tried to steer the conversation she sees as more press
towhat
ing issues forMapuche people-like the right to bilingual education. She

stated, "For us, customs are what we do everyday in the kitchen or around
the house. We want to talk about politics." And, to a large extent, these
women have been successful in talking about politics. When I asked non
Mapuche people in the provinces of Neuquen and Rio Negro what they
knew about Mapuche people and organizations in the provinces, many
highlighted the presence of "the vocal women from the COM." Part of
how they "talk about politics" is by dressing inways they think appropri
ately symbolize their community and their role in it. Many of these
women have been successful in using these performances to their benefit;
because of their visibility as "authentically" Mapuche, they are gaining
leadership positions in the COM and frequently represent Mapuche peo
ple in negotiations with the state and other civil society groups.
In an attempt to institutionalize a visible Mapuche presence, some young
Mapuche people in a predominantly Mapuche neighborhood in the city of
Neuquen are trying to ensure that their ID cards mark them as Mapuche. In
Argentina, the government issues national ID cards to people when they

turn 18; these cards do not classify ethnicity or race. In the neighborhood
near the community center that houses the COM, Mapuche people have
worked out an unofficial agreement with the government workers who dis
tribute the ID cards for that area. A few years ago, young Mapuche people
began showing up for their ID photos wearing Mapuche clothing. Both
young men and young women wore trarilonkos on their heads and the
women also wore otherjewelryand the traditional
dress thatcrosses over
one shoulderand leaves theothershoulderbare.According to aMapuche
woman who participates in theCOM-the mother of some of these teens
"Although the young men wear a woven trarilonko, thewomen's dresses
and silvertrarilonkosreallystandout in thephotos."Given the invisibility
ofMapuche people and theirpolitical goal of being seen, thesephotos act
as a symbolic classification in which, as this woman argued, "Everyone
who looks at theID cardknows immediatelythattheperson isMapuche."
Identity performances for others can also support the cultural identity of
the community. Maria, a Mapuche woman in her forties who participates
sporadically in the COM and limits her participation to issues involving

Mapuche health, argues that culture is the base of Mapuche identity and
that "without strengthening Mapuche identity, politics become an empty
question." As part of this commitment to strengthen her cultural identity,

Maria researches the symbolic meanings in jewelry designs and weaving
patterns. She is a weaver, and she sells her hand-dyed woven Mapuche
blankets, shawls, belts, and hats at a weekly art fair inNeuqu6n. At this
fair, Maria wears Mapuche clothing. She says that people approach
her with curiosity and often ask if she is from Chile, not immediately
believing that she could be from Argentina. Such assumptions point to

the effectiveness of utilizing a specific-even essentialized-script
of indigenous performance, since nonindigenous people can recognize
someone who "does" a Mapuche identity, even if they initially associate
with Chile.
thisidentity
For Maria, being physically visible is imperative to show people that
"we continue to exist." Her experience at the weekly market often
includes invitingMapuche women from rural communities who "work in
the houses of the rich folks" to stop by her booth to talk and drink mate
an Argentine tea. Maria's experience has led her to imagine the creation
of a community center in downtown Neuqu6n. She has an ambitious
vision for this space:
Itwould be a place where Mapuche women can get together toweave and to
speak together inMapuzungun. Itwould also be a place where doctors could
come to learn about traditionalMapuche remedies and health practices ...
There would be beds for domestic workers who don't have a place to sleep
on theirweekends off.And, above all else, itwould be a visible place in
downtown Neuquen where we could show thatwe are part of lifehere.
The invisibility thatMaria feels as a Mapuche woman is clear in her

vision of a community space aimed at bringing togetherMapuche women.
It is also clear that, like otherMapuche people, she sees visibility as
directlytied to gender.Her imaginedspace is forwomen, and her belief
in thevisibilityofMapuche people as a whole restson thevisibilityof
Mapuche women.
The desire tohave a visible ethnicidentityina place where thisidentity
has been invisibleleads to "doing"Mapuche identity forexternalrecogni
tion.With these performances, Mapuche people try to differentiate them
selves fromthemajoritynon-Mapuchepopulationand reinforcetheethnic
boundariesand culturaldifferencesthat Mapuche. This identity
make them
is often performed in settings with a large audience: political events, events

with media coverage, and a weekly art fair that draws crowds. While
Mapuche men also sometimes perform this identity, they have fewer visible
signals available to them: a woven trarilonko and a woolen poncho if the
weather is cool. Moreover, Mapuche men are not regarded within the com
munity as the icons of tradition; their dress does not symbolize "health" for
themselves or their community. Most of the responsibility for presenting a
visible differentiated Mapuche identity falls on Mapuche women.
RESISTANCE TO BEING AN ICON OF TRADITION
The unique Argentine setting, inwhich Mapuche people have a poorly

defined space inwhich to enact their identity, allows Mapuche women to
resist their ascribed role as icons of tradition while still claiming an authen
tic identity for themselves. For example, Julia is a 50-year-old woman in the
city of Neuquen who identifies as Mapuche. She is a weaver ofMapuche

textiles who has won awards for her pieces, and she speaks Mapuzungun.
Julia was asked to participate in a poetry-reading event celebrating the
Day of theWoman. The director of the event asked her to read a poem in
Mapuzungun to include aMapuche woman's voice in the evening's lineup

of speakers. The organizer then asked Julia to "wear your Mapuche cloth
ing and jewelry because itwould be so beautiful to see a real Mapuche
woman poet." Julia responded that she was not sure that she would be able
to, and in addition, she said that her short haircut-not the traditional
hairstyle forMapuche women-would keep her from looking like a "real"

Mapuche woman. In response, the director suggested in a half-joking,
half-serious tone that she wear hair extensions to the event.
This suggestion, even meant as a joke, points to theproblems thatMapuche
women face when they are expected to look a certain way. Both Julia,who is
Mapuche, and the director,who is not, believed thathaving a visible Mapuche

woman at an event celebrating theDay of theWoman would be an important
recognition of Mapuche women. However, the director's joke about hair

extensionsand Julia'semphasison notbeing about topresentthe lookof a
"real Mapuche woman" speaks to the constraints thatMapuche woman face,
evenwhen theyare otherwiseclearlymarked asMapuche (throughspeaking
inMapuzungnn, for example). Julia ended up wearing a nice sweater and
slacks for her reading. She later said that she is often uncomfortable with
requests for her towear certain clothing to "appear" Mapuche because she
does not own theproperclothingand jewelryand cannotaffordthem.She
would like toown a traditionaldress and therequisitejewelry,but silver is
expensiveand not a priorityinher tight
budget.
Another woman in her early forties, Emilia, expressed similar discom

fort inwearing certain clothing and jewelry, especially to political events.
Emilia speaks Mapuzungun fluently and devotes her time to learning
more about the symbolic aspects ofMapuche culture. She criticized other
Mapuche women, noting, "So many of those women wear a trarilonko or
other pieces of jewelry without knowing what they symbolize. All of our
clothing symbolizes something, and they shouldn't wear it if they don't

know what itmeans." For Emilia, cultural knowledge ismore critical than
outward appearances forMapuche identity, and she would rather have a
profound knowledge of her culture than participate in what she sees as
superficial performances of Mapuche identity for others. Yet Emilia did

not always identify as Mapuche. After moving to a city from a Mapuche
community to look for work, she denied her identity for many years. It
was not until she suffered from a serious illness that she began dreaming
of her grandmother, who told her to reidentify as Mapuche. In the dreams,
her grandmother described medicinal herbs to her that cured her illness.
This experience, which inspired Emilia to relearn her native language and
culture, also gave her a strong sense of her identity. Noting that other
Mapuche women may wear Mapuche clothing to prove their authenticity,

she said, "I don't need towear Mapuche clothing to events. I know who I
am; I don't need someone else to tellme that I'm Mapuche!"
Julia and Emilia's experiences reveal some of the contradictions in the
visibilitywork ofwomen likeMaria and thewomen in theCOM: Inusing

women's attire to present an authentic Mapuche cultural and political
identity and gain Mapuche political rights, their identity work reinforces
the very stereotypes about a folkloric identity that they are trying to break.
They create an expectation thatMapuche identity is about women looking

a certain way. It is worth pointing out that Julia does not participate in a
Mapuche organization and that Emilia participates in a small Mapuche
organization concerned mainly with language revitalization. Their lack of
participation in political Mapuche organizations may be because of per

sonal interest. But itmight also be connected to the consequences for
women who resistbeing iconsof tradition:they may not feelcomfortable
in
participating organizations whose interestin presentingan authentic
Mapuche identitytranslates into rigid traditionalistexpectations of
Mapuche women. By resistingtheassumption thatwomen who deviate
fromrigidlydefined traits-such as hairstyle,clothing,and jewelry-are
somehow less Mapuche, or maybe not Mapuche at all, women like Julia
and Emilia are expanding theways thatwomen can be Mapuche.
CONCLUSION
InArgentina, Mapuche identity is largely undefined by the state and by

the general Argentine population, which both tend to assume that indige
nous peoples no longer exist or that theymust maintain certain essential
traits to be "real." Even within Mapuche communities, there is often little
consensus about what makes someone indigenous and what this identity
means. A central part of being Mapuche, then,means having to prove the
validityand visibilityof this identity,
both outside ofMapuche communi
ties and within them. This process creates tensions that are gendered and
that point to the paradoxes associated with traditionalism.
"Doing" Mapuche indigenous identity involves both gendering and
indigenousness. It is a process of "doing" intersectionality that involves
both gendering indigeneity and indigenized gender. For Mapuche women,
these processes are particularly visible and reinforce each other. Thus,
their indigenous identity becomes gendered and their gender identity is
indigenized through interactional performances both within their commu
nities and with people outside of them.
The intersectional ways in which indigenous identity is performed are
deeply interwoven with tensions around traditional and modem identities.
Many Mapuche women's embrace of tradition and the traditional reveals a

more general paradox: On the one hand, Mapuche women can be constrained
by tradition.They may be expected towear traditional clothing at all political

and cultural events and to uphold hierarchies within their community associ
ated with these identities. When they do conform to these expectations,
Mapuche women sometimes constrict their own opportunities for expressing
and living their gender and ethnic identities by their own identitywork, rein
forcing expectations that indigenous women's authentic identity is found in

traditional performances of dress and appearance. When they do not conform
to these expectations, they face skepticism on the part of non-Mapuche people
about their identity,and theymay feel like outsiders even within theirMapuche
community.
On the other hand, Mapuche women can be empowered through invo
cations of tradition. Actions and interactions based on notions of tradi
tional identitycan lead to communitywholeness-something that is
forpeople whose identity
especially important has longbeen negated and
questioned by the state and society. In Argentina, Mapuche women are
often lookedat as being thevisible representatives
ofMapuche communi
tiesand organizationspreciselybecause theyhave been effectiveindraw
ingon traditionalistimages tomake Mapuche identity"authentic"to the
state. Furthermore, because Mapuche people see women as being the
legitimate bearers of tradition and culture within Mapuche communities,

many women have also gained access to leadership and decision-making
positions within Mapuche organizations and communities. Their visible
positions derive in part from how their identitywork leads to their visibil
ity,both inside the community and by outsiders, as authentic representa

tivesofMapuche identity.
Looking at tradition as malleable and paradoxical has implications for
other indigenous groups. Drawing on tradition to legitimate an identity
can be both constraining and liberating to different degrees, depending
on the rigidityof gendered indigenousidentityand the extenttowhich
women can determine which traditions are important to the community.
Even inplaceswhere indigenousgenderedidentity
ismore rigidlydefined,
the invocation of tradition opens spaces that can be used inways that subvert
traditional hierarchies-precisely because tradition is open to interpretation.
NOTE
1. Following Max Weber, I use ethnicity as an analytic category that encom

passes race (Weber 1978;Wimmer 2008). I am specific inmy use of indigenous
identity construction, but I see it as part of a broader process of ethnic identity
construction.
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HOW WILL WE RECOGNIZE EACH OTHER AS MAPUCHE?

Gender and Ethnic Identity

Gender and Ethnic Identity

This article builds on the literature

Keywords: collective behavior; social movements, politics; state; nationalism; race!

ethnicity; international/transnational relations

rgentine national perceptions of racial identity compared to other

A Latin American countries are well illustrated in the common saying:

grants with few or no racial differences. It has the additional effect of

erasing indigenous peoples from Argentina's history. Indeed, historically,

Campaigns of physical extermination followed by state-led assimilation

shape this identity

(West and Fenstermaker 1995; West and Zimmerman 1987). To look at

negotiation revolves around the difficulty of performing an identity that is

larly good place to enhance theories of "doing" an identity, precisely

rigidly bound by physical or phenotypical requirements for a racial iden

sectionality, indigenous women can use expectations about their indige

"DOING" AN UNDEFINED IDENTITY

In their groundbreaking work, West and Zimmerman (1987) argue that

ing and form.

States, racial and ethnic categorizations are shifting as boundaries between

membership (Hout andGoldstein 1994;Nagel 1995).At the same time,

egory. Mixed-racial identity, labeled mestizaje, was often perceived by state

(Vasconcelos 1997), despite-or sometimes precisely because of-the fact

building. Instead, these modernizing states viewed indigenous people as a

Macpherson, and Rosemblatt 2003; Yuval-Davis 1997) and symbolizing

relationships to differentiate between "us" and "them." Yen Le Espiritu

incorporating modem elements in their identity. Diane Nelson captures

Indigenous women are at the heart of tensions around essential versus

indigenous women's represent an appropriate or inappropriate

indigenous identity. Patricia Richards argues that themedia's archetypes

shape perceptions of appropriate indigenous identities.

emphasize historically "authentic" gender relationships. Many indigenous

Mapuche Women inChile and Argentina

this,Mapuche women often eschew the language of gender difference,

Mapuche people" (Richards 2005, 216-17).

Mapuche people as an important part of national history and current cul

Bacigalupo notes that in Chile, politicians often invite Mapuche women

politicians, showing that they recognize and support cultural diversity in

"Mapuche resistance movements have manipulated public images of

Mapuche agendas"(Bacigalupo 2004, 506). In addition to reinforcing

have been made invisible. I then analyze Mapuche women's participate in

This article draws on ethnographic research from three research trips to

provinces of Neuquen and Rio Negro. I used a network strategy to con

eight of the interviews. When the interviewee preferred not to be recorded,

including forced attendance at boarding schools-which might shape their

Although some of the interviewees speak Mapuzungun, the Mapuche

language, they all felt most comfortable conducting the interviews in

Spanish, although they sometimes inserted an occasional common word

informal conversations with more people than I formally interviewed. It

Mapuche identity that is at the heart of much Mapuche activism in

Argentina. This was a common theme that arose a

picture of Mapuche politics and to create a more accurate analysis of the

Throughout my research, I was aware of my positionality as a

people's desire to refuse an interview with me.

Argentina. In contrast, it represents a subset of Mapuche women who

MAKING MAPUCHE PEOPLE INVISIBLE

In Argentina, race is a particularly complicated issue. The dominant

Argentine elites who conceived of the hinterlands of Argentina as an

empty "desert" devoid of civilized people (Radovich 1999). This dis

Argentina's national borders. Through what amounted tomilitary warfare,

ject to intense processes of hierarchical integration intoArgentine society

indigenous people in Argentina invisible. As Oscar Chamosa argues, in

Argentina (Chamosa 2008). Although they continued to practice indigenous