“Instrumentos”: Perspectives of the Study of Literature as a Tool in Multicultural Education for the Mapuche Communities of Southern Chile

In 1861, the Chilean national state occupied the southern territory of the country, beginning a process of violent subjugation of the indigenous Mapuche people. Traditionally, schools were a place to impose the majority culture and systematically discourage the Mapuche language and cultural practices. The past few decades have seen a national movement for intercultural education as a platform for the revitalization of Mapuche traditions and lifestyle. Through interviews with teachers in the intercultural education field and education students at the Universidad Católica de Temuco and through a case study at the elementary school Escuela G-539 in the rural Mapuche community of Chapod, this investigation examines the current application of Mapuche culture in educational settings and the perspectives of relevant actors on its future. It focuses on the study of literature and argues that this subject area can provide a space to incorporate the culture in various arenas. Analyzed aspects include the incorporation of Mapudungun, the Mapuche language, to preserve the language and provide an authentic learning environment, traditional oral educational techniques in a literature and language arts context, and Mapuche storytelling in the classroom