20245603(en)/9 - Individual and Collective Resilience in the Biographical Trajectories of Young Mapuche People from Rural Communities in Araucanía
INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE RESILIENCE IN THE BIOGRAPHICAL TRAJECTORIES OF YOUNG MAPUCHE PEOPLE FROM RURAL COMMUNITIES IN ARAUCANÍA
RESILIENCIA INDIVIDUAL Y COLECTIVA EN LAS TRAYECTORIAS BIOGRÁFICAS DE JÓVENES MAPUCHE PROCEDENTES DE COMUNIDADES RURALES DE LA ARAUCANÍA
Gabriela Garcés-Pérez y Ana María Alarcón-Muñoz
We present resilience as a key element for understanding the life trajectories of Mapuche young people pursuing higher education who come from rural communities in the Araucanía Region, Chile. We employed a theoretical-conceptual approach to resilience, drawing on collective-transgenerational, ecological-sociocultural, and critical-decolonial perspectives to explore how they cope with adversity along their life paths. We adopted a methodology that combines biographical narratives with ethnography, with a constructivist grounded theory analysis. Nine biographies were configured and analyzed using a sequential and thematic reconstructive framework. Our analysis revealed the category of agentic cultural resilience trajectories, from which derive collective-transgenerational forms of resilience recreated through lived experiences. We identified in these young people a key role in processes of continuity and cultural change, as they promote retro-generationality or the reverse transfer of cultural appreciation. We propose that the notion of agentic cultural resilience sheds light on ambiguous areas not fully captured by the category of resistance, as it encompasses the everyday dynamics of agency undertaken by people, families, and communities, for the continuity and preservation of Mapuche identity and culture.
