Poverty and Dependency in Indigenous Rural Livelihoods

Mapuche Experiences in the Andean Foothills of Chile

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2272829
AutoresElvis Parraguez Vergara (Instituto de Estudios Urbanos y Territoriales Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile Santiago de Chile Chile), Jonathan R Barton (0000-0001-6250-8684, Instituto de Estudios Urbanos y Territoriales Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile Santiago de Chile Chile)
Ano2013
Volume13
Fascículo2
Páginas234-262
Data de publicação2013-04-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Agrarian Change (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1471-0358 • E-ISSN: 1471-0366
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1471-0366.2012.00380.x
OpenAlexW1954414945
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas9
Referências citadas21

Rural livelihoods are complex systems of interrelating factors that include human, social, natural, physical and financial capitals. By looking at these capitals in the context of a rural Mapuche community in the Andean foothills, in the local area of Curarrehue (Araucanía Region), it is possible to discern the different challenges being faced and how these can be contextualized in terms of poverty and vulnerability linked to a limited resource base, and also the strong dependent relation with the state and its diverse public policies in the region. Using semi-structured interviews with the community members, public-sector officers and academics, and also field observations, this complex local scenario is analysed with a view to understanding the threats that exist for Mapuche livelihoods and the assets that they can mobilize to counter these threats. The paper concludes that physical, natural and financial assets are severely limited and remain the reasons why there is heavy dependency on state resources to maintain these subsistence livelihoods. Traditional knowledge is losing ground against increasingly transcultural influences and practices, while endemic biodiversity is being replaced with monoculture. Consequently, community members (human capital) - in particular, the younger generations - are leaving the community to seek more viable livelihood options, mostly in urban areas. These factors point to the limitations of these local livelihoods based on dependent small-scale subsistence farming continuing in their current form. This situation poses a serious challenge for Mapuche rural communities and their traditional practices, and also for the Chilean state and the relationship between the two

Agriculture · Business · Economic growth · Economics · Environmental planning · Foothills · Geography · Indigenous · Livelihood · Natural resource · Political science · Poverty · Rural area · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Subsistence agriculture · Vulnerability (computing · Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development · Ecology · Indigenous Cultures and History · Migration, Education, Indigenous Social Dynamics