Performing the 'India Permitida': The Counter‐Gift of Indigenous Women Targeted by a Corporate Social Responsibility Programme (Chile)
In: Bulletin of Latin American research: the journal of the Society for Latin American Studies (SLAS), Band 40, Heft 2, S. 172-187
ISSN: 1470-9856
Relying on ethnographic data, this article critically analyses the pro‐mining position adopted in Chile's Atacama Region by a group of Diaguita women who benefited from a corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme to revive indigenous culture. While the desire to escape from poverty (salir adelante, moving forward) appears as the main reason for participating, the benefits generated a sense of indebtedness resulting in allegiance to the company. The investigation also shows how this programme played a part in building a scenario in which indigenous females perform subjects apparently more suited than men to the neoliberal and multiculturalist governmentality of the Chilean State, whose politics favours mining.