“The understanding of territory as an unresolved issue is not depicted”

The Reframed Stories Project asks people to respond to dominant themes and issues that appear in news coverage about their communities. These stories are reflections by people who are frequently represented by others in the media. Word clouds are created using the Media Cloud platform, a data analysis tool which examines a collection of media outlets over a specific period of time, allowing participants to analyze and discuss the preliminary insights into how they might be represented in the media. The project refrains from making conclusive pronouncements about the data, and instead is a starting point that creates space for discussion about how they can help shape their own media representation through digital media.

Salvador Rumian runs the Fütawillimpau project, a “Mapunche-williche space on the internet”. The following is a transcript of the video about Salvador's analysis of the word cloud for the term, “Huilliche,” who are “the southern partiality of the Mapuche macroethnic group of Chile.”

Dominant words from 282 articles published between May 2017 and May 2018 mentioning “Huilliche” within two Media Cloud collections of Chile’s Spanish-language media outlets. (view larger image)

Me parecen pertinentes, particularmente cierto que ‘Huilliche’ está vinculado con el concepto ‘mapuche’ porque los ‘Huilliche’ son una rama del pueblo mapuche, no un pueblo aparte, así que por lo menos la vinculación ya me parece demasiado adecuada.”

También me llama mucho la atención que ‘huilliche’ está vinculado también con la figura de la recientemente electa diputada, bien enviado que también da cuenta de cómo desde los territorios de alguna manera son más alejados del centro histórico y que podría ser el futuro ‘huilliche’, lo que hoy es la región de la Araucanía. Desde estos espacios como periféricos está saliendo también una voz mapuche diferente, y de alguna manera también cierta representatividad que son ‘nuevas’ marcadas, en lo que son particularmente la representación de las mujeres, a través del espacio que ofrece ‘la legislación chilena en cuanto a la participación política a través del parlamento’.”

Eso es un tema muy importante que también nos da cuenta de que también en este territorio se están levantando algunas propuestas que son diferentes a las que normalmente estamos acostumbrados a ver.

Lo que sí se puede revisar es este concepto, concepto ‘Huilliche’ me llama la atención que no esté vinculado al tema del agua, que son problemas que tenemos, problemas de la sequía, problema también de las cuestiones mineras, que hay muchos espacios que pertenecen la comunidad en derecho central, pero que no están reconocidos en propiedad también.

No veo la vinculación huilliche con lengua, por ejemplo, que también me gustaría que este concepto huilliche que es parte de los mapuches en general (apareciera). No está ahí el tema de nuestro idioma, de nuestra lengua como el concepto importante que tiene que estar ligado.

(La palabra) ‘territorio’ sí aparece, cosa que me parece bien, pero el territorio comprendido también como una cuestión que no está resuelta, así que de ninguna manera no sé ve aquí, no se vislumbra. Solamente aparece territorio, pero no aparece vinculado al tema de naturaleza, del tema del agua, de las mineras, etc, etc.

Así que creo que sí, hay mucho que cambiar en esta nube. La rama Huilliche del pueblo mapuche, de la nación mapuche, tiene más conceptos que de alguna manera debieran aparecer vinculados particularmente al tema de la devolución de los territorios que han sido usurpados, al reconocimiento de autoridad ancestral, a la la devolución de ciertos derechos que también han sido arrebatados. Creo que sería importante avanzar en esa dirección.

I agree with the association presented here between ‘Huilliche’ and “Mapuche”, because the Huilliche people are part of the Mapuche people, we are not separate groups, so I find that connection extremely accurate.

I also find interesting that ‘Huilliche’ is also associated to the recently-elected congresswoman (Emilia Nuyado). [Looking at this word cloud, I also notice] that the territories are somewhat cut off from the historical center, which could be the future ‘Huilliche’ (area), which is now the Araucanía region. From these peripheral spaces there is also emerging a different Mapuche voice and, to some extent, also some new clear ways of representing women, through the space offered by the Chilean legislation in relation to political participation through the Parliament.

This is a very important topic that shows that in this territory there are new ideas emerging, which are different from the ones we are used to seeing.

I don’t see the topic related to water, which is a problem that we have here, such as drought. The problems related to mining are also absent. There are multiple spaces that belong to the community in terms of central rights, but that are not recognized in ownership as well.

I don’t see the connection between ‘Huilliche’ with language either [in the word cloud]. I would like this concept to be present [in the word cloud] in relation to Mapuche people as a whole. The topic of our language is not here, which is an important concept that should be.

[The word] ‘territory’ does appear here, which I think is a good thing, but the understanding of territory as an unresolved issue is not depicted here at all. Only the word ‘territory’ appears here, but it is not related to the topics of nature, water, mining, etc.

So, I think that there is much that needs to change in this word cloud. The ‘Huilliche’ branch of the Mapuche Nation has more concepts that should appear here in one way or another, particularly the ones related to the return of the territory that has been usurped, the recognition of ancestral authority, and of certain rights that have also been taken away from us. I think it would be important to work towards that direction.

This is part of a Rising Frames series developed as part of an activity organized by Fernando Carías. He helped organize a workshop held on May 26, 2018 in Osorno, Chile that brought together representatives from various collectives and groups to examine how they or issues they care about are represented in a collection of Chilean media and created stories in response to that representation.

Mónica Bonilla and Belén Febres-Cordero assisted with the transcription and translation, which was edited for clarity and length.

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