Processes of Negotiation of Ethnicity in Indigenous Tourism: A Decolonial Look at Mapuche Tourism

This article presents research aimed at understanding how ethnicity is socially negotiated in the context of the development of indigenous tourism among the Mapuche community (Chile). Based on in-depth interviews conducted through qualitative and ethnographic research in almost all tourism initiatives in Mapuche community territories in various regions of Chile, we developed an interpretation of the narratives to understand the discursive formations that these actors develop concerning identity. The critical discourse analysis conducted is framed within a conceptual framework on identity negotiation that distinguishes various decolonial strategies followed by Mapuche entrepreneurs and guides at community, intercommunity and intracommunity levels. The identified ethnicity patterns are characterized both by offering a self-represented response to externally imposed stereotypes and forms of development and by offering an adaptive and flexible view of ethnicity in the face of tourism.