¿Qué es el multiculturalismo? La nueva cuestión étnica en el Chile neoliberal

Since the end of the dictatorship, there has been a redefinition of the relationships between the Chilean State and the indigenous peoples. A new political, legal and ideological framework has been implemented in order to deal with the so-called «indigenous problem» and multiculturalism has become the buzzword of official discourses. In this essay, we shall focus on the political nature of this new national and nationalizing project called multiculturalism through the examination of its everyday practices and representations in specific ethnographic sites. Drawing on the critical anthropology of development and of the neoliberal state, we shall concentrate on the brand new IDB-sponsored ethnodevelopment program called Origenes as well as on the structuring of the intercultural health field in the northern part of Chile. We shall then draw some general conclusions about the nature of neoliberal multiculturalism and the shaping of what we shall call ethnogovernmentality.