Mapurbe: Spiritual Decolonization and the Word in the Chilean Mierdópolis

Decolonization does not occur uniformly for all Indigenous people, nor are all Indigenous people in agreement with what constitutes decolonization. For the Mapuche of Chile and Argentina, cultural production serves as a platform from which to voice their grievances and act as spokespeople for the Earth, although the environmental aspects of urban Mapuche cultural production have largely been overlooked. The Mapurbe (Mapuche of the urbe) are the second or third generation Mapuche whose urban condition is a result of geopolitical injustice and who continue to suffer the spiritual repercussions of exile from Mapuche territory. This article explores the ways a new relationship with Mapu (the Earth) is re-negotiated in the absence of ancestral territory and with the loss of language. Drawing on spiritual connotations of the Word in Mapuche cosmo-vision, and Walter Mignolo’s definitions of languaging/bilanguaging, I trace how Mapurbe are empowered by their physical and linguistic marginalization using the work of David Aniñir as a central point of reference. The hybrid eclectic nature of Mapurbe cultural production is a testament to the dynamism of Mapuche culture and demonstrates how decolonization is both a subjective and a collective process