Violencia de Género Hacia Mujeres Mapuche: Un proceso de Investigación-Acción Participativa

Violence against indigenous women presents particularities that distinguish it from the way it occurs in other groups of women since their ethnic and class status places them in a place of subalternity. In this context, this study analyzes the network of social violence, of a socio-historical nature and the way in which these are presented in the daily lives of Mapuche women, depositing the total impact of the violent expressions experienced and observed. For this, a qualitative methodology based on the critical-constructivist paradigm with a participatory Action-Research design was used. The study was carried out in the Bio Bio, Araucanía and Los Rios regions, implementing six participatory workshops with Mapuche women that included leaders of women's organizations and traditional health agents. In addition, a discussion group was held with 20 intercultural health facilitators (amuldulgün), of both sexes, as an endorsement of the intervention proposal built from the participatory workshops. The relevance of this socio-cultural problem, together with the need to have tools that consider the specificity of Native Peoples, gave rise to a Manual for the Prevention of Violence against Mapuche Women articulated in 4 axes: Ethnic and gender identity; the articulation of the violences in daily life; collective self-care and the intercultural route in the resolution of violence.The need for leadership on the part of indigenous women and their community organizations i s reaffirmed to address ways of resolving conflicts in the family and in the couple, which consider ethnic elements of their Nation, as well as their historical and territorial development in order to build ways of Good Living.