Migration and Return to Mapuche Lands in Southern Chile, 1970–2022

Abstract

This article addresses the emerging issue of migration from cities to the countryside, a trend which increased and became more evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, this study follows the population growth of Mapuche communities in southern Chile. It proposes that this migration pattern represents a medium-term pendular historical phenomenon; decades after the initial Mapuche exodus to cities in Chile and Argentina in the 1960s and 1970s, families and individuals have decided to return to live permanently on community lands. This study utilized official Mapuche community resources and interviews with public officials, experts, community members, and Mapuche leaders. This article highlights a very important historical phenomenon, as return migration generates changes in the communities and the southern landscape, as well as posing challenges for the rural world. In some cases, the recent return migration has generated substantial occupation changes for the migrants, resulting in a change from urban to rural activities. In other cases, individuals and families have returned to live in the community but maintained jobs in nearby cities, or have retired.

1. Introduction

In the last few decades, the population growth of rural communities has increased, and rural properties have been divided to create agricultural plots or smallholdings as a result of family inheritance. Many people and families have decided to move to the countryside, to the outskirts of large cities, to the foothills of major mountain ranges, and to places of touristic or residential interest.

These city–countryside migrants, or neo-rural migrants, have recently become very numerous in both Latin America and Europe [1]. In this process of counter-urbanization, individuals and families migrate in search of better economic conditions and quality of life, which may be simpler, quieter, or involve closer and more permanent contact with nature or with traditional ways of life [2,3]. In Bulgaria, neo-rural migration has greatly increased in recent years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic [4]. In Germany, counter-urbanization has also increased in recent decades, with migration to rural areas and small towns increasing even more during the pandemic [5]. A few similar migration patterns have been observed in Spain, Japan, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Australia [6].

This migration to rural areas also encompasses another very particular phenomenon, which is the return of individuals and families to the places where they or their parents lived in the past. The main motivation to migrate in this case is not due to the attractions of the rural world, but to return to rural family roots. This phenomenon has been recognized in recent decades in Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Lebanon [7]. Likewise, several studies have highlighted this new dimension of migration, return migration, on an international scale [8,9,10].

Within this framework, this article focuses on the migration of the Mapuche population from cities to traditional communities in recent decades (It uses the generic expression “communities” to refer to family lands, but there are also community lands, as well as lands owned by Mapuche families which were obtained from the State by other means (owner-occupier, delivery of the National Corporation for Indigenous Development (CONADI), upon request, or by direct purchase among the Mapuche). Such migration greatly increased during the recent COVID-19 pandemic, leading to a rapid and significant increase in the population growth of Mapuche communities.

People and families who abandoned the communities they inhabited in southern Chile (the Biobío, La Araucanía, Los Ríos and Los Lagos regions) several decades ago in order to migrate to Santiago, Temuco, Osorno, or other southern cities, have now decided to return to traditional Mapuche communities. The same decision has been made by many children and grandchildren of these Mapuche migrants.

In recent decades, the decision to migrate has been personal and family-based and could be observed sporadically in the communities. But in recent years, and especially during the pandemic, these decisions became more numerous and noticeable. The communities have begun to receive many old people, now retired, who are returning to community life, and young people, alone or in couples, who are choosing to start a new life in the communities of their parents and grandparents. These new immigrants are called Mapurbes, or people who have begun to live as Mapuche in the communities for the first time (The Mapuche poet David Aniñir Quilitraro differentiates the Mapuche (men of the land in Mapuzugun, Mapuche language) from the mapurbes (men of the city), who were born and raised in the city. It is a statement of urban Mapuche identity, but also deeply Mapuche) [11,12]. Adding to the above phenomenon, many Mapuche are opting to buy small plots of land in communities located in places that are attractive for work, or for family and personal reasons. Others, in turn, are benefiting from land provided by the State to settle as individual owners of indigenous lands in southern Chile.

To understand the current phenomenon, we must first examine the migration patterns of the 1970s, when the outflow of people from communities was a traditional practice. Community–city migration is the starting point of this medium-term historical process that concludes with the recent phenomenon mentioned above. Thus, we understand the current situation as a return to communities. In many cases, this includes a literal return, but for those who were born and lived far from the indigenous lands, it also involves a symbolic return to their roots. It is now evident that many of the people who initially left the community did not totally break with community life. They maintained economic ties, returned sporadically, or at least never forgot their lands of origin.

A decisive political decision that affected this process was the division of Mapuche communities that began in 1979 during the civil-military dictatorship. This decision laid the foundation for a true reorganization of Mapuche communities and daily life. Much of what has happened in recent decades in Mapuche communities is the result of the establishment of Mapuche family plots as private property in the 1970s.

It is also important to highlight the changes that the rural world has undergone from the 1980s onwards. These changes are both economic and social and have involved an increase in rural activities, making rural areas a place of refuge for city–countryside migrants. The appearance of agricultural plots and smallholdings are evidence that rural life is becoming more attractive.

In addition, this article seeks to understand what has caused the recent migration from cities to traditional communities. Why do people return to their communities? Is it a generalized phenomenon or is it especially evident in some places in southern Chile? If it is focused, which places are attracting Mapuche population growth? It also explores whether the increased migration during the pandemic was circumstantial or is permanent. Lastly, it seeks to explore the life projects of the new residents.

Additionally, this study aims to understand the effects of the recent population growth on the communities. Specifically, we examined how the population growth affected the emergence of new activities, access to basic services, and the coexistence of Mapuche, as well as the effects that the arrival of new residents has had on community organization.

2. Materials and Methods

This article is a historical study of the aforementioned problem and used official documentary sources in the Archive of Indigenous Affairs, of the CONADI, specifically, the administrative folders of the Mapuche communities of southern Chile [13]. These folders contain detailed information on the community’s history, from the granting of community land titles (“grant titles”), between the end of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century, up to the present. For this study, documents from the Mapuche communities of the municipalities of Nueva Imperial, Lautaro and Padre Las Casas, in the La Araucanía region of Chile, were consulted.

Likewise, we carried out numerous weekend field visits in these municipalities, as well as in Cunco, in the same region, and in the municipalities of Futrono (Los Ríos region), and San Juan de la Costa (Los Lagos region), at the end of 2021 and throughout 2022. During these visits, we interviewed a total of 23 people: Mapuche community leaders and community members, both men and women, mostly over 65 years of age, but also some young people. In addition, we spoke with officials and experts in territorial and indigenous development in the indicated municipalities. The interviews were semi-structured, aimed at collecting biographical information about the interviewee, both family and personal information, and exploring their knowledge regarding migration to the cities, as well as the return migration. In addition, the interviews explored the particular knowledge of the interviewee, in his or her capacity as leader, resident, expert or municipal official.

In addition to the interviews, there is abundant information on the Mapuche communities in the CONADI database, available on the web [14]. This database contains current information on the existing Mapuche communities, their location and their number of families and members. This site also contains a reference to current Mapuche organizations. Through a direct request to CONADI, we also obtained historical information about the Mapuche communities and their leaders.

In addition, we utilized information from the National Institute of Statistics (INE), namely, the 2017 Population and Housing Census [15] and the 2021 Agricultural and Forestry Census [16].

The aforementioned resources were complemented by consulting bibliographic and press information on the Mapuche communities.

In the following section, a brief summary of the Mapuche migration to the cities and the policy of the civil-military dictatorship that affected the communities is provided. In this way, the historical migratory process that unfolded throughout the 20th century, until reaching its peak in the 1970s and 1980s, is explained. All of this is fundamental to understanding the recent migratory return to the area, which is not an isolated event that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic, but rather as part of a medium-term historical phenomenon. In this sense, the migratory return represents a medium-term historical construction that is complex in terms of its reasons and deeply related to the migratory history of the 20th century.

From now on, the article will focus on recent decades, explaining the reasons for this migration and the true Mapuche diaspora that manifested itself in the 1990s, a moment in which a new historical stage slowly began to take shape, with the beginning of the return to Mapuche communities, a phenomenon that has increased and became very evident during the COVID-19 pandemic.

2.1. Migration to the City, until the 1970s

Mapuche communities were restricted to mere subsistence living after the settlement period that lasted from 1884 to 1929. The Mapuche community used to inhabit southern Chile from the Pacific coast to the pre-Andean valleys and the trans-Andean region. After settlement, these communities were restricted to a maximum of a few hundred hectares. At the same time, most of the higher quality lands passed into the hands of non-Mapuche Chileans and foreigners. Indeed, since the settlement period indicated, some of the community lands themselves have been usurped by private individuals or traded by the Mapuche themselves. This was particularly common after 1927 when the communities divided [17,18,19,20,21,22]. Additionally, as state boundaries were defined in the 1920s, the once commercially important Chilean–Argentine passage gradually closed [23,24]. By the 1940s, the binational economy that had existed along the border of Chile and Argentina, which integrated Mapuche, Chileans, Argentines, and foreigners, was greatly weakened by the organization of regional spaces as nation states [25].

As can be seen in Figure 1, Mapuche communities are spread throughout southern Chile, especially in the La Araucanía region, which is located in the foothills of the mountain range, in the intermediate depression and along the coast.

Due to the lack of land and capital, as well as the requirement to attend school, the Mapuche communities began to expel their children, young adults, and adults from the mid-twentieth century onwards [27,28,29,30,31]. These Mapuche migrants settled in Santiago, Concepción, Temuco, Osorno, and Valdivia, among other cities. Also, many Mapuche regularly left the communities to work temporarily in nearby estates or in the central part of the country. Some also went to Argentina to work as seasonal agricultural workers in fruit harvesting. Many of those who went to Argentine Patagonia never returned, settling instead in Neuquén and other cities in southern Argentina [32].

In particular, the labor destiny of Mapuche women and men who migrated to Santiago and other cities for decades is well known; most of the women were domestic servants and employees in restaurants and stores. Men often labored as bakers, worked in mills and other industries and workshops, or found work in restaurants and commerce [28].

The departure/expulsion from the Mapuche community was traumatic for many generations. Chilean racism and classism were fierce. Haircuts in schools, prohibition to speak their language, mockery for their clothing and poverty (many of them went to school barefoot) abounded. The Mapuche were considered inferior. In fact, the Mapuche have endured a long history of stigmatization [31,33,34,35].

In the second half of the twentieth century, the poverty of the Mapuche increased both due to population growth inside communities and due to the isolation in which individuals found themselves following their migration to urban centers [36]. By 1966, there were approximately 326,066 Mapuche in Chile, of whom approximately 40,000 were already living in cities. Among those living in undivided communities, the average amount of land per person was 2.3 hectares. In divided communities, the amount of land/individual was much smaller [28,37]. The 1960s and the period following the 1973 coup d’état were very hard times for Mapuche communities. Life in the communities revolved around subsistence agriculture: cultivating wheat, fruit, and vegetables and raising sheep, cattle, pigs, and poultry. There were few options left for some Mapuche families (in most of them, generally two people had already migrated), except to start a new life in the cities, where everything seemed easier and better [27]. It is in this context that the dictatorship decided to put an end to the Mapuche communities.

2.2. Community Division by the Dictatorship, from 1979 to the Present

After an inconclusive attempt by the Chilean state to put an end to the communities between 1927 and 1958, the dictatorship decided to resume this policy. Decree Law 2568 of 28 March 1979, and Decree Law 2750 of 28 July 1979, led to the division of the indigenous communities and the formation of individual properties in the name of the community members present. All those absent (residents outside the communities) did not receive any part of the land [17,19,38,39].

The initial interest of the dictatorship was to put an end to the historical differential treatment of indigenous lands. As such, the lands were to be put on the market for common sale. However, the reaction of the Mapuche community and Catholic Church led the dictatorship to divide the communities without removing their status as indigenous lands and the protection this status had provided since the nineteenth century [40].

The process was completely executive and the Mapuche had no choice but to accept. The order was clear and replaced communities with individual private properties. From 1979 to 1988, 73,444 titles were issued for 519,257 hectares. Most of the properties (63,426), which combined encompassed 374,196.33 hectares, were in the La Araucanía region. Therefore, on average, each property assigned in this region was approximately 5.89 hectares in size [19,41].

Due to the exclusion of absentees in the distribution of community lands, all those who were far away, including those outside the country, and those who could not present themselves in the community during those years, lost their right to individual property. Around 20 thousand Mapuche were affected by this provision [40].

With the formation of private Mapuche properties, fences also appeared. It is recalled that along with the division of land, surveyors provided barbed wire fences to delimit the plots, according to each person’s property [42]. This was in stark contrast to the traditional separation of small plots by ditches and bushes [43].

For the first time, Mapuche communities were introduced to wire fences between family properties, generating a reorganization of daily life. Animals could no longer move freely through the fields, and the cultivation and harvesting of wheat became more difficult. The size of the land provided, as well as the lack of inputs, seeds, tools, machinery and animals made it very difficult to generate the amount of food necessary, let alone obtain surpluses. In the rare event of surpluses, the prices they commanded in the city were low. All this implied that the division of the communities brought more poverty and difficulties, increased seasonal work in the fields and cities of the south, and led to the definitive decision to abandon the community in search of a better life in the cities [19,27,28,31].

At the same time, in response to the division of the communities, the Mapuche world reacted by forming new organizations, such as AdMapu, which made it possible to confront the anti-Mapuche policies. Thus, an unexpected effect of the dictatorship’s decision was to unite the Mapuche in the defense of their culture and lands [19,31,33,39].

3. Results

3.1. The Crisis of Traditional Agriculture and the New Rural Spaces in Southern Chile, 1980–2022

In 1973, the Chilean state abandoned the policies that had been in place for several decades to promote and regulate agricultural activity. Official agricultural prices ceased to exist and state support for farmers and peasants fell abruptly. At the same time, general neoliberal and agrarian policies favored fruit, forestry, and agro-industrial development in order to increase productive efficiency and compete in the global free market. Historically, inclusion in the global market had been a major obstacle for traditional agriculture, for both commercial farms and peasant farmers [27,44,45,46]. This led to a reduction in the overall peasant population and the continued outflow of the young population from the communities.

This was a hard blow for the Mapuche communities. With fewer laborers in each family and with little land (an average of one hectare per person at the beginning of the 1980s), the difficulties to subsist within the community lands increased. It should be noted that while the lands were legally divided, the community continued to collaborate at planting and harvesting times, in the use of machinery and oxen, in the construction of houses, and in other important tasks. The community also continued to be united by participation in rites and ceremonies [28,47,48,49].

The crisis of traditional agriculture, as part of the changes of the global capitalist system, slowly gave way to the development of new rural activities. These mainly included energy production, tourism, conservation, real estate and aquaculture. Agriculture and forestry also continued but with the development of export crops and other products (mainly berries, hazelnuts, cherries, apples, cellulose, salmon, and flower bulbs). All of this directly and indirectly impacted the Mapuche communities. Some of the effects included usurpation and leasing of lands, conflicts over land ownership, advancement of forestry plantations, scarcity of permanent agricultural work, increases in seasonal work, expansion of hydroelectric, wind, and bioenergy projects, reduction of water availability, and transfer of water rights to private companies [44,45,50].

Despite these transformations, agriculture (wheat and vegetables) remained important in most communities, although the production of some crops was greatly reduced (peas and potatoes). Likewise, livestock became very scarce [43].

Overall, in the southern countryside, agriculture has continued to be the main economic activity. According to the 2021 Agricultural Census, the region of La Araucanía concentrates the largest number of units of agricultural production (36,552 units) and self-consumption (8026) in the country [16], and covers just over 2 million hectares. On the other hand, there are some 111,621 hectares in this region without temporary or permanent agricultural activities. Within the 36,552 recognized productive units, the main activities per unit are livestock (14,492), crops (11,811), non-agricultural activities (4573), forestry (2729) and fruit trees (1141), not counting other minor items.

It is interesting to note the existence of a third group of agricultural units whose main activity is neither forestry nor livestock. In the other southern regions (Biobío, Los Ríos, and Los Lagos), the same order of importance is repeated although productive units differ: livestock, crops, non-agricultural activities, and forestry. This indicates the existence of rural spaces that have been significantly modified in recent years to combine both traditional and new activities.

Regarding the surface area of the 36,552 productive units in La Araucanía, 33.5% of them encompassed less than five hectares, and in total they only covered an area of 33,335 hectares. Units of 5–20 hectares accounted for 43.8% of the total production (162,412 hectares). In total, units smaller than 20 hectares accounted for 77.3% of the region’s total production, although they covered only 10.2% of the regional agricultural area. On the other hand, medium-sized units, between 20 and 100 hectares, accounted for 18.1% of the total production (263,680 hectares). Overall, units of less than 100 hectares accounted for 95.4% of the units and encompassed 24% of the agricultural area. Additionally, 0.95% of the units were 500 hectares or greater in size, and these accounted for 62.5% of the regional agricultural area. Lastly, 58 units were 2000 hectares or more in size, and accounted for 48.1% of the area. In La Araucanía there are currently many small and medium-sized peasant and indigenous properties paired with large forestry, livestock, and agricultural properties. It is noted that production from these large properties dominates the economy of the region that is also home to the largest number of Mapuche communities. It is not surprising that since the late 1990s this region has been the focus of ongoing conflict between Mapuche communities and large landowners and companies. Forestry companies and the government of Chile have been greatly involved in these conflicts [44,50].

Of the 35,562 agricultural producers (including Mapuche community members) in the region of La Araucanía, 22,836 are men and 12,726 are women. In addition, the population is aging: 74.7% of these producers are over 50 years old. Moreover, those aged 65 and over account for 36.2% of producers. On the other hand, adults aged 25 to 49 account for 24.4%. In terms of gender composition, male producers are slightly older than female producers; 38% of men and 32.4% of women are over 65 years old. Likewise, men between 25 and 49 years of age accounted for 22.3% of total producers, while women of that age accounted for 28.3% [16].

In terms of the type of work available, temporary work predominates. Notably, 115,062 laborers have temporary work while only 13,423 laborers hold permanent positions. In both types of work, men hold most of the salaried positions. There are 10,333 men and 3090 women with permanent employment while 85,759 men and 29,303 women are employed in seasonal agricultural work. Interestingly, the number of females employed in temporary work in La Araucanía is lower than that of other southern regions. In the other regions, and in the nation overall, women make up close to half of the total laborers. In contrast to the situation in La Araucanía, in the Los Lagos region female seasonal workers outnumber male workers [16].

The decreased presence of women in seasonal work in La Araucanía could be explained by the greater importance of small and medium-sized properties which favor a high degree of self-employment. Since peasant properties and Mapuche communities provide the main source of labor for seasonal work on small to medium-sized properties in La Araucanía, men are more likely to take on these positions, while many women remain in domestic work. This is very different from the female labor participation in other regions, where women from both the countryside and cities work outside the home.

Finally, according to the 2021 Agricultural Census, there were 20,627 Mapuche producers in La Araucanía (57.9% of all producers in the region), and Mapuche properties totaled 241,352 hectares. In total, in the regions of Biobío, La Araucanía, Los Ríos, and Los Lagos, there were 29,858 Mapuche producers, and their properties totaled 404,333 hectares (Some of the producers were not considered in the Census. This explains why the number of producers and surface area of the properties does not fit with the other data).

In short, the rural world from the nineties onwards was completely different from the previous era. The countryside became an attractive living space for Chileans. The subdivision of rural properties to form plots of land, not only legal and notarized, but also massively de facto (without respecting the minimum requirement of half a hectare), allowed the movement of a significant urban population to the countryside. While some of these new property holdings represent second homes, others serve as permanent residences and areas where different activities are developed [51,52].

Transformations in rural sectors also include infrastructure: power lines have been extended and roads improved and paved. This, in turn, allowed individuals to acquire cheaper vehicles for transportation and agricultural work more easily. Additionally, access to potable water, telephone and internet connections increased, among others. All of this changed the situation of the rural world, making life there less harsh and more attractive. Indigenous lands were not excluded from these changes.

3.2. The Mapuche Diaspora in Recent Decades

The initial exodus of Mapuche from their communities to Santiago and other cities in southern Chile, and from Argentina, caused a significant portion of their descendants to live far from their original communities. At some point, possibly in the 1990s, this permanent migratory phenomenon halted. However, Mapuche workers continued to migrate seasonally for agricultural work and various urban trades. Additionally, children continued to leave communities in order to attend high school and university [43].

In 1992, the Mapuche population in Chile numbered 928,060 people over the age of 14 (470,730 men and 457,330 women). Of these, 192,763 (20.7%) lived in rural areas. While the number of Mapuche men and women living in the cities was proportionally similar, in the countryside, men predominated (55.6% of the rural total) [53].

Of the total Mapuche population, 409,909 people (44.1%), lived in the Metropolitan region. Occupations were much more varied than in previous years, with industrial and commercial occupations predominating among men, and domestic service for women. However, it should be noted that only 28% of women were employed in domestic service, and the rest in industry and commerce.

In the same year, there were 337,676 Mapuche living in southern Chile. More than half of this total (183,495 people) lived in cities, mainly in the Biobío region. Furthermore, 143,769 Mapuche lived in La Araucanía, of which 69% (almost 100,000 people) lived in rural areas.

As can be seen, between 1962 and 1992, the number of Mapuche emigrants to cities increased from 40,000 to 400,000 people. By 2002, the number of emigrants to cities was 377,133 [41].

In 2002, there were 604,349 Mapuche in Chile (the census likely underestimates the total number). Of these, only one third resided in La Araucanía (202,970 people), 100,664 lived in the Los Lagos region, and 52,918 in the Biobío region. Therefore, only 58.9% of the total number of Mapuche resided in the regions where they originated. On the other hand, 30.2% lived in Santiago. This situation provides evidence of the decades-long migration of the Mapuche population from their communities to Santiago and other cities. Considering the distribution of this population in urban and rural areas, only 35.5% still resided in rural localities in the south and in Mapuche communities (214,543 people). Of the latter, some 146,690 Mapuche lived on community lands, which encompassed 24% of the total population [41].

In 2002, the dispersion of the Mapuche population throughout Chile was very noticeable, and residence in urban areas predominated. The population was concentrated in the capital and in southern cities. There were 280,003 Mapuche aged 15 and over living in urban areas. Of these, 135,068 were men and 144,935 were women, yet only 58.6% of the men and 34.7% of the women were gainfully employed.

By 2017, the Mapuche population amounted to 1,745,147 people (almost equal gender distribution) in Chile. Of these, 614,881 lived in the Metropolitan Region. In the regions of Biobío, La Araucanía, Los Ríos and Los Lagos, there were 786,974 Mapuche people. As can be seen in Figure 2, the Mapuche population was concentrated in some municipalities in the south and central parts of the country, such as in Temuco, La Araucanía; Puente Alto, the Metropolitan Region; Puerto Montt and Osorno, Los Lagos; Maipú and La Florida, the Metropolitan Region; and Valparaíso-Viña del Mar, in the Valparaíso Region [15,26].

According to the 2015 data, shown in

Table 1. Table 1. Mapuche residents in southern Chile, urban, rural and total, 2015.

Region	Urban Population	Rural Population	Total Population
Biobío	79,839	24,600	104,439
Araucanía	126,430	185,029	311,459
Los Ríos	40,021	36,239	76,260
Los Lagos	132,678	75,216	207,894
Total	378,968	321,084	700,052

Source: CONADI, Studies Unit [54].

, 45.8% of the Mapuche living in the south resided in rural areas. Furthermore, almost half of these people lived in La Araucanía (185,029 resided in rural areas in La Araucanía).

These records indicate that the Mapuche population living in rural areas has increased significantly since 1992. At present, the Mapuche are distributed throughout central, southern, and extreme southern Chile. Their places of residence reflect the labor opportunities they have had and the spatial segregation to which they have been subjected.

A clarification regarding Mapuche migration is necessary. It should be noted that not all of those who migrated to cities and other regions of Chile lost all contact with their communities. Many of those who have migrated to work in cities return during the summer to visit their relatives and collaborate in farming activities. Many individuals also regularly send money to their families or return to their communities during periods of unemployment [27]. Many Mapuche are also attentive to the health of their parents and older relatives; in several cases, the need to accompany parents, grandparents, and other relatives has affected the return of emigrants [31,42,55,56].

On the other hand, those who were present when the communities were divided from 1979 onwards retained private property in the community and remained attentive to the fate of their relatives.

3.3. Migration from the Cities to Mapuche Communities. The Return to the Land

Recently, the opportunities available to the Mapuche population in the communities began to change. It is likely that this is a result of the creation of CONADI in 1993. This indigenous policy has improved living conditions in the Mapuche communities through various subsidies, as well as through the acquisition of new land. In addition, other landless Mapuche have received titles as “occupants” from the Ministry of National Assets [57]. In addition to all of this, from 1993 onwards there have been governmental development programs, including indigenous territorial development programs and other forms of aid.

Furthermore, the influence of the Mapuche organizations themselves have strengthened community relationships and directly improved indigenous lands. Thus, the return of individuals to the communities has had profound economic, cultural and political implications.

The return to Mapuche communities by those who left at a young age started decades ago but increased massively during the recent pandemic. This can be observed in the municipality of Cunco (Cautín province) and even more so in Lautaro, Nueva Imperial, and Padre Las Casas. This migration pattern can also be seen in the municipalities of Futrono, in the Valdivia province, and San Juan de la Costa, in the Osorno province. This was all observed by the author of the article during several field visits made to Mapuche communities during late 2021 and throughout 2022. All those interviewed for this article commented on the striking increase in the number of new residents in the communities (Data of name, activity and place of residence of 23 interviewees in references).

By the end of the 1990s, there was already talk of a return to the land as the utopia of the Mapuche people [58]. Likewise, land recovery and territorial control became central political approaches of the Mapuche movement from the 1990s to the present [50]. The Coordinadora Arauco–Malleco, one of the leading organizations of the Mapuche movement in recent decades (created in 1998), has played a central role in promoting a peasant and ethnic utopia in which the recovery of “ancestral lands” plays an essential role [59].

The young Mapurbe, Matías Catrileo, who was murdered by police on Mapuche lands in 2008, expressed his commitment to the communal lands prior to his death. He wrote:

“Alas for those times

that we would continue to

be siblings,

we would open our eyes

to greet the morning.

Mari Mari kom pu che, we would say,

and we would still be earth and sky

before the gaze of nature” [60].

We do not yet know the extent of the current migratory phenomenon, which manifested itself strongly during the pandemic. However, the available data regarding this movement suggests that important changes have been made and are still occurring. Increases in the number of families in the communities of 10 to 30% are not uncommon, according to approximate data obtained in the communes mentioned [48,49,56,61,62,63,64].

This Mapuche migration does not coincide with a generalized population increase in southern Chile. In some Mapuche communities it is not very noticeable [55], but perhaps these communities are the exception. In most communities, this emigration is very evident, and in several communities emigration has been abundant. In general, in each commune, isolated, inaccessible, remote, and impoverished places are not attracting many new residents. In contrast, rural areas that are well connected to cities with paved roads or that are in areas with greater economic activity, such as important tourist and agricultural areas, are receiving many more emigrants [48,49,57,63,65].

The example of San Juan de la Costa, in the Los Lagos Region, is very striking in this regard. The commune has very marked historical differences between the northern and southern halves. The latter is well connected, and is where most forestry, tourism and agricultural activities take place. Therefore, the southern half of San Juan de la Costa continues to attract the largest population. The northern zone, which is less populated, has few roads and is very isolated, has not attracted many new inhabitants [61,66].

4. Discussion

4.1. Reasons for Return Migration

What explains this return to the family land, which leads people to want to reside permanently in the community?

On the one hand, there are economic reasons. Job loss, which was prevalent during the pandemic, forced some people to migrate, though it is likely that this decision had already been in the making for the last few years. In this sense, the decision to return is a result of the history of migration to the cities, which was built on family and personal experiences outside the community. These experiences, in many cases, involved violence, racism, mistreatment and exclusion. Thus, according to the interviews conducted in this investigation, job loss during the pandemic was a serious factor that aggregated with other economic reasons that had accumulated over time.

There was, of course, a very diverse psychological dimension to the urban pandemic experience. For some, the pandemic meant becoming aware of the lack of quality social ties in the city. The forced isolation broke the routine of daily formal coexistence, and shed light on the lack of ties that unite urban dwellers, beyond work or student-life. ‘Who would help me if I needed food, money and company?’, many wondered [67,68,69,70].

This being said, reasons other than unemployment, economic difficulties, and the fear generated by the pandemic, have also influenced people’s decisions to migrate. Quite simply, the pandemic triggered the decision that Mapuche families and young people had been postponing or preparing for.

Making a play on words, the poet David Aniñir created the term Santiagóniko (in Spanish, a combination of Santiago and agónico, he who suffers agony), while the historian Claudio Alvarado coined the term Mapurbekistán (Santiago as a dystopian city), neither expression denoting good urban experiences in the city of Santiago [12,71]. In short, the search for a better quality of life caused this migration.

Returning to the community has generally involved building a house, and this requires prior savings and family help, which are not available in all cases. Some new residents have built homes with family resources, with money obtained from pension fund withdrawals, with contributions from the municipality, or with other state benefits. In recent years, during a tour of some Mapuche communities in southern Chile, it was possible to see houses under construction. In some places, more than one house was being built at the same time on the same piece of land. This is visible evidence that the communities are growing. To this day, one can walk through the interior roads of these communities and see various building projects emerging. Some of these include high quality structures and well-built houses for permanent residence.

For a Mapuche, returning to the community also has a strong political and cultural component. To return to live in the community is to support the Mapuche cause, to strengthen their community and their organization. In addition, it is to fulfill a responsibility that they feel they have to the group. The decision to return to the community is a pending obligation to their elders and ancestors, not a personal decision [65].

Perhaps this political and cultural commitment is stronger among young people. In this sense, a clear sign of the arrival of young Mapuche adults in the communities can be seen in the renewal of community leadership. A decade ago, the leaders were generally men over 50 years old. In recent years, the arrival of a younger population has also led to younger leaders, under 40 years of age, who along with returning to their communities have taken over the leadership of the communities [55,65,72].

Currently, of the 3090 Mapuche communities in La Araucanía, 561 have a president under 40 years of age. Of the latter, 298 communities are led by a woman. If we expand the age range, there are 1511 communities presided over by people under 50 years of age. Of these, 761 communities have a female president [73].

This highlights the active presence of younger leaders, of whom most are women. In addition, the presence of women is greater if we ignore the age of the president in the communities; 1375 communities are led by women.

However, there are still 938 communities with a president over 60 years of age, which shows that there has been only a partial renewal of leaders. Likewise, the oldest leaders are mostly men. In this group of communities and age range, there are only 395 female presidents.

Lastly, if we combine all the Mapuche leadership positions of the 3090 communities (presidents, vice-presidents, treasurers, secretaries, and counselors), there are 11,939 leaders, of whom 6055 are women. Thus, the female presence is very important in a large part of the communities. Regarding age, within the total number of leaders, 3256 are under 40 years of age. Of these, 1912 are women. In turn, 6371 leaders are under 50 years of age (more than half of all leaders), and among them there are 3541 women. Finally, there are 2538 leaders over 60 years of age. Of those, 975 are women.

As can be seen, there is an ongoing renewal of leaders, with the entry of younger leaders and a significant number of women. The oldest are still present and are presidents of a significant number of communities but hold a much lower percentage of other leadership positions; those over 60 preside over almost a third of the communities, but their presence makes up only 21% of the total number of leaders.

Along with economic, cultural, and political reasons, another explanation for the massive return of young people and families in recent years (before and during the pandemic), is legal and familial in nature. Currently, we are living the end of a life cycle; those who received individual properties in 1979 or after, especially in the eighties, are very old or have passed away, which implies that their children, nieces/nephews or grandchildren must return to occupy the lands of their father, mother, uncle/aunt, or grandparents and resolve the occupation/subdivision of the land [48].

Certainly, the division of communities under the dictatorship substantially changed the Mapuche’s access to land. Traditionally, a Mapuche family resided in the community lands of the father of the family or, less frequently, in the community of the wife/mother. Then, over time, especially if one had little land in the husband/father’s community, one could obtain other lands in the wife/mother’s community [28]. However, the formation of individual Mapuche properties reduced access to land to only that which was inherited from one’s father or mother (if she was recognized as present at the time of the division). All of this has put pressure on the status of smallholdings.

Perhaps this is the concrete and practical reason for the return of many Mapuche to community lands. As older community members pass away, the children rush to occupy their inherited lands. This would mean that several houses are built, one for each of the children inheriting the small family property.

The pandemic would therefore only have been a juncture in a phenomenon that was in full swing: a new subdivision of individual Mapuche properties involving family ownership by descendants. This time, plots of one hectare or smaller are the average size for which the new residents are eligible. However, a small rural property of one hectare or less does not allow for many economic options.

However, no matter how small a person’s inheritance is from his or her parents, many are obligated to return to their parents’ land in order to maintain it. Some, apparently very few, have taken advantage of the general increase in the price of land, and have sold their land to other Mapuche. Incidentally, the value of indigenous land sold among Mapuche, despite its unique legal status, does not differ much from the value of land that can be bought by other Chileans [48,49,56,65]. Land sales among non-related Mapuche are rare. On the contrary, most have returned to demand their share of property from their siblings. Those who have not returned will surely be pressured/motivated to sell their inheritance to the rest of their family or will end up selling to the highest non-family Mapuche bidder.

4.2. Effects of the Increased Number of Residents in the Communities

The impact of the arrival of new residents is very significant. Notably, the skills that newcomers bring to the communities are highly valuable. Many of the young people living in the communities today have professional trades or university degrees in health, agronomy, administration, pedagogy, engineering, and other fields. These skill sets and knowledge help emigrants to diversify the economy and social enterprises. New residents also take on leadership positions in the communities [31,48,62,72,73].

As we have indicated, the return to the communities has involved the construction of numerous houses, which are sometimes in close proximity to each other. This in turn changes the landscape of the communities. Many of these new houses are spacious, high-quality homes, indicating the savings and family efforts behind the decision to migrate to the community.

New resident families have rapidly increased the number of members in rural drinking water associations (RWAs), which is a good indicator of population growth. RWA membership has increased rapidly, stretching the existing infrastructure to its limits. Projects that were intended to sustain user growth for several decades are already having serious difficulties incorporating more families into the rural drinking water network.

This has occurred in the community of Ignacio Huina, in Maquehue, commune of Padre Las Casas [48]. In 2018, there were 54 families living on approximately 186.5 hectares. Between 2019–2022, the number of families grew to almost 80, about 45% more families. This community, along with four others nearby, are part of the same RWA, which in 2018 provided domestic water to 208 houses. In the years that followed, 135 new houses requested access to the drinking water network. Given infrastructure limits, it has only been possible to connect 123 houses. As such, a total of 331 families were using the RWA as of April 2022. Other families that want to join the RWA must wait for infrastructure improvements. This would require new water towers, water mains, and other installations, which is highly unlikely in the near future. To better appreciate the difficulty this community is facing, the entire RWA project of 2018 was planned for 400 families, the expected growth for 20 years. The massive return to the communities has meant that in four years the infrastructure has already reached its limit.

On the other hand, there is an RWA project in Maquehue, a nearby area (commune of Padre Las Casas), which has been in gestation for several years and has also experienced a high level of demand. Members increased from 126 in 2010, to 212 in 2015 and to 366 at the beginning of 2022. The RWA project has not yet been implemented, but the number of interested families has not stopped growing in recent years [49]. The same is true in San Juan de la Costa, Osorno province, where the increase in population (Mapuche and Chilean) has made it necessary to carry out significant rural drinking water extension projects. For example, water lines have been extended from the vicinity of Puaucho, the municipality’s headquarters, to previously uninhabited areas of the countryside in order to provide water to the many new neighbors [74,75].

In addition to the above, population growth in rural areas compromises other basic services, such as electricity, cellular and internet networks. This reveals an important limitation to this migration. How much population growth can communities support? Possibly, not much more. The existing infrastructure has already been overwhelmed by the increase in residents. Improving infrastructure requires new community and state investments to meet the increased demand for those services. Also, practical issues such as garbage management and coexistence among those who do not have the same knowledge of community life have started to become more recurrent in indigenous communities.

What are the life projects of those who migrate to the communities? These are likely diverse. Some older people return to retire in the community. There are some who were civil servants or members of the Armed Forces and have managed to build a house and live comfortably on their pension. Others, who were laborers, have some savings and smaller pensions, but have higher purchasing power in the countryside than they would in the city [48,49,61,62,65,72,74,76,77,78,79].

Younger individuals who return often return as a couple, and they come back to start a new life. Most of them are not wage earners, or if they have been, they are looking for other activities. Generally, they intend to develop the trades and professions they have learned and engage in commerce and activities related to tourism.

Many young people are carrying out various enterprises in the same community, offering services that did not exist there a few years ago. These include running car repair shops, grocery stores, hair salons, home food delivery services, small restaurants, etc.

A significant change that has facilitated new agricultural projects has been that INDAP, the main state agency dedicated to agriculture, has allowed those who inherit land access to aid, even if they have not yet made effective possession of their property. This has expanded the possibilities for many young people to receive state contributions and opt for life in the countryside [43,72]. Along the same lines, there are also small but important aid projects provided by municipalities and consultants via the Indigenous Territorial Development Program, PDTI [61,62,63,64,72,76,77,78,80].

Thus, families and young people are carrying out agricultural activities (horticulture, growing wheat, lupine, fruit, and raising livestock, among others) with state contributions or with their own financing combined with the aid of different cooperatives and associations [48,62]. Today, thousands of productive organizations have been formed in La Araucanía.

Of course, with the limited amount of inherited land, there is little profitability to be gained unless leases and other arrangements are made to cultivate larger tracts of land.

On the other hand, the development of export crops in nearby farms, such as berries, cherries, hazelnuts, etc., offers the possibility of employment as seasonable agricultural workers, which can complement family farming [44,62].

Finally, communities close to cities have a privileged location that has favored population growth. Such is the case for the commune of Padre Las Casas, near the city of Temuco, on the south bank of the Cautín River. In Padre Las Casas, it is relatively easy to live in the community and find a job in the city. In such cases, it is possible to take advantage of the opportunities that living in the community offers (no rent, cheaper basic services, and better quality of life), and given the transportation infrastructure and access that most have to cars, it is possible to get to and from the city without many complications.

There are a significant number of Mapuche communities immediately adjacent to Temuco, which is the most populous city in La Araucanía with 304,871 inhabitants [15,26]. Proximity to a city provides a variety of job and education opportunities which are very attractive for Mapuche families who want to live in the surrounding communities [81].

Proximity to a major city can also have its costs. In Temuco and other cities in southern Chile, urban sprawl is advancing onto community lands. Thus, just as communities have increased their connectivity to nearby cities, cities have literally expanded into indigenous lands. For example, the Temuco’s urban expansion now resides on community lands. This phenomenon is common throughout southern Chile. As of 2022, 424,791 people live on lands that are legally communal (many of these are not Mapuche), but are urban dwellers who have bought houses in the periphery of cities or have even received social housing from the State in these areas [81].

In this sense, the migratory return to the Mapuche communities of southern Chile is understood in this article to be part of a phenomenon of counter-urbanization. This conclusion is based on the type of new rural activities that returnees seek to develop and given that the proximity of many communities to major cities makes it possible to live in the community and work in the nearby city, especially as urban growth expands towards the communities at the same time. The communities, however, are far from being “dormitory communities”. On the contrary, they continue to have an active rural economy, which constitutes the main part of the community income [44,82,83,84]. Obviously, the urban salary contributions are beneficial for the community, but so are those obtained from seasonal agricultural work. In addition, the advance of the urban radius towards the surrounding communities has implied an effective loss of these community lands, which impacts the economic possibilities of the communities, and strengthens the permanent land demands by the Mapuche people.

5. Conclusions

As mentioned above, there is a medium-term historical migration process occurring in the Mapuche communities of southern Chile. This process greatly increased in the mid-twentieth century and reached its peak in the 1970s, with a massive outflow of adults, young people, and children escaping the poverty and social abandonment of the communities. The division of the communities during the dictatorship aggravated this situation between the late 1970s and the 1980s. However, in the 1990s, coinciding with political and economic changes, this traditional migration from the communities to Santiago and other cities in southern Chile, and to Argentina, largely ended, and a slow return of Mapuche families and individuals began. During these years, there was a true Mapuche diaspora in Chile, with approximately 400,000 Mapuche living in cities, especially in Santiago. In recent years, the return to the communities has increased, especially during the pandemic. Population growth of 10% to 30% has been observed in communes of La Araucanía (Nueva Imperial, Lautaro, Cunco and Padre Las Casas) and in the province of Osorno (San Juan de la Costa) due to the arrival of new residents. In some communities, such as the commune of Padre Las Casas, the number of families has increased nearly 45%.

The landscape of the communities has changed with the proliferation of houses and new infrastructure to accommodate returnees. These new residents are old and young, men and women, and include both those who have returned to retire and those wanting to start a new life.

In Mapuche communities, the return of individuals and families is expressed in a mixture of old and new activities. The population that has returned to the community lands has engaged in new economic activities, as part of the general changes that the rural areas of southern Chile have undergone. New productive possibilities have been introduced (lupine, flowers, strawberries, etc.) to the traditional agricultural life, mainly involving the cultivation of cereals, legumes, and horticulture, as well as sheep farming. New enterprises have also been added, especially those related to services and tourism projects. Evidently, given the subdivision of family properties, it is becoming increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to carry out profitable agricultural projects. Gradually, agricultural activities have been reduced, with cattle and traditional crops disappearing from the landscape. However, the pandemic led to the resumption of some wheat planting to ensure basic food supplies. In general, sustainable agricultural activities are being developed only with a great deal of effort, such as through cooperatives. At the same time, some of the residents in communities close to cities, such as in Padre Las Casas, work as urban wage earners and only live in the community. However, this represents the minority. Most members of Mapuche communities have income linked to rural activities, both in their own communities and from temporary work on rural properties in central and southern Chile.

In short, the arrival of new residents is in full swing and bringing about significant changes. Surely, all this will require a redefinition of community life, combining the old customs with new individual and collective projects that develop in this scenario. It remains to be seen whether there will be an adequate response from community organizations to meet the challenges brought about by the increase in residents, or if this, unfortunately, will mean more problems and a deteriorating quality of life.