Paper short abstract:

This paper looks at the role of the 'flayte' ('chav') in Mapuche urban cultural production. It uses the poet David Aniňir as a central point of reference, but also looks at Mapuche music fused with other genres.

Paper long abstract:

Over the last two decades, Mapuche poetry in Chile has reached international readership. Poets use written poetry as a medium to voice their grievances with the unjust policies of the Neoliberal economic system. Much of their poetry has been categorized as 'ethno-literature' or 'ecocritical' poetry for its close thematic association with the land. Subsequently, there has been less critical attention to Mapuche urban cultural production which has been undergoing its own particular 'reinvention' in recent years. One of the more recent socio-political categories - the Mapurbe (Mapuche of urbe) has been overlooked in spite of the impact it has had on young Mapuche in Santiago and Temuco, who have begun to appropriate concepts outside the Mapuche world, and engage in artistic experimentation considered by some Mapuche to be 'unpure'. Few scholars have taken into account the double marginalisation of the Mapurbe, or examined how this has played out in their cultural production. My paper demonstrates the multi-faceted nature of Mapurbe cultural production, in particular the role of the flayte, or 'chav', seen as a delincuent by both Mapuche and Chilean communities. I will discuss the work of the forerunner of the Mapurbe movement, David Aniňir, as well as the various forms of music which have been combined with Mapuche instruments, language and thematic content, in particular punk, hip-hop and heavy metal. Mapurbe urban resistance is a testament to the dynamism and vibrancy of Mapuche culture, which is often mistakenly portrayed as incongruous to modernity.