The Americas Colloquium

Dr. Diego Muñoz und Ruben Darío Chambi, M.Sc. (LMU Munich):

Indigenous Flags and Nation States. Comparative Perspectives from the South

In March 2023, in Santiago de Chile, the ERC project team "Indigeneities in the 21st century", together with researchers from Chile and Bolivia, held a workshop on Indigenous flags devoted to their histories, contemporary legacies and relationships with nation states in Latin America. As part of this collective endeavour, the Aymara and Changa Wiphalas, as well as the Mapuche and Rapanui flags were studied. This presentation, based on the contributions and reflections of the workshop, sets out to introduce the different dimensions of Indigenous flags and the ways in which they undermine monolithic narratives of nation states through their origins, deployments and relationships with territories and borders. The Aymara Wiphala can be traced back to pre-colonial times and nowadays works as a transnational flag; the Mapuche (Wenüfolle and Wuñelfe) flags testify to the internal tensions around the notion of the authentic Mapuche flag as well as the different contexts in which they are displayed: in rituals and political meetings. The Rapanui flag (Reva Reimiro) is described as pre-existing the arrival of the Chilean flag on the island of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and expresses a political connection with Tahiti; finally, the Changa Wiphala recently burst forth as a result of the legal recognition by the Chilean state of the Changos as an Indigenous people. Furthermore, the latter case shows how a particular concept (Wiphala) has travelled across peoples and been used in processes of identity creation. These examples allow us to address questions about the emergence and uses of Indigenous flags, illuminating the ways in which they act as material markers, visual symbols and political drivers of Indigenous sovereignties.

When?          Thursday, 13 July 2023, 18:15
Where?         Oettingenstraße 67, 80798 München
                      Room L 155
 
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