“Qué pertenece a quién”: Procesos de patrimonialización y Pueblos Originarios en Patagonia

Abstract

In the past, the national/provincial’s history and identity was shaped by refusing and/or rejecting differences, while inequity was hidden by claiming for a particular and homogeneous cultural unity: “the criollismo”. Nowadays, the archaeological rests of indigenous past are re-categorized in Rio Negro`s legislation as a province`s cultural heritage. Considering the complexity of these circumstances, the purpose of this article is (to) analyse the contradictions and ambiguousness released by this classification at the legislative context and the conflicts that this heritage activation weaves between the state`s agents and mapuche`s people. I will try to demonstrate that this contradictions are the product of —and also provide— the relationship between mapuche`s people, state`s agents and certain international directrices in recent years.