warauduati

In 2002 I spent March and April in Santiago de Chile for a short-time trainee- ship in the Non Governmental Organization Centro de Estudios Ciudadanos. Contrary to all my expectations I was requested to start a short research about the necessities and interests of capacities in Mapuche women in the metropolitan area of Santiago. In first place the Centro de Estudios Ciuda- danos dedicated its time to the development and support of the democracy in Chile, but in particular to the women’s rights movement and their assistence in professional and everyday life.

Since they had almost no information about the integration and situation of indigenous people in the closer and wider commuter belt of Santiago up to that day, they gave me the possibility (in cooperation with World University Service Germany) to gather some startup information and write a small research paper to hopefully iniciate some helpful integration and support programs in the future.

Besides having one of the best times of my life in Santiago, great as well as sometimes strange experiences there (for trying to help and getting involved with Mapuches I was for example called a terrorist in a radio interview at the Universidad de Santiago de Chile) I had the chance to try myself in field research at an early stage of my anthropological studies. Despite that two months were way too short and difficulties of a so far unknown South American lifestyle too big to get enough profound insides, I wrote a short paper in the end of my stay to present to the NGO. Although I know that they picked up my initial materials, my ideas, and proposals, it seems as if the organization doesn’t exist anymore by now. Nevertheless, even not in best Spanish nor comprehensive nor fully developed due to inexperience in those days, I place my paper here at your disposal, may it simply be for your interest or start off point for further investigation…

Estudio sobre Necesidades e Intereses de Capacitación Laboral en Mujeres Mapuches de la Región Metropolitana. Centro de Estudios Ciudadanos, Santiago de Chile. 2002, 1-23(28).