The construction and appropiation of cultural landscapes: a historical political ecology of Wallmapu/Araucania, Chile

Abstract

The Wallmapu territory, since its incorporation into the Republic of Chile as the Region of Araucania, has been subject to significant territorial transformations. This article uses the perspective of historical political ecology to understand how the construction of cultural landscapes became a device for exercising hegemonic power. These landscapes of power evolved over time as different demands were established in this territory: first as the 'Wheat bowl' at the end of the nineteenth century and then the 'Green Gold' forestry plantations during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Both landscapes facilitated a dominant common sense of modernity, progress and development in Wallmapu/Araucania, that has contributed to the ongoing State-Mapuche people conflict.