The Universidad Academia de Humanismo Cristiano is about to hold a conference devoted to the language of the Mapuche (literally the “People of the Earth”), an Indian community from South-central Chile and western Argentina.

The Mapuche language, also known as Mapudungun, is an isolate. It counts between 400,000 and 500,000 speakers settled over 2,000 reservations, and around twice as many including the 300,000 Mapuche living in Santiago. Yet these figures need to be taken carefully: while the community is indeed very mobilized for the defense of its language and culture, Mapudungun faces relatively serious transmission issues in the urban Mapuche community, and the languages faces an overall decline in favor of the gigantic Spanish language.

Gathered under the general topic of “The State of Chile and Colonialism over the Mapuche / Which language for the Mapuche ?”, linguists, teachers and activists will tackle the question of the (ongoing) revitalization of Mapudungun, as well as the more delicate issues of collective rights, land restitution and autonomy of the Mapuche people.

Universidad Academia de Humanismo Cristiano
Auditorium
Thursday October 28, 2010 – 6.30pm
Condell 343, Providencia – Subway: Salvador
Santiago
Chile

The Mapuche Oraganization webiste

Mapuche Documentation Center website

A few words in Mapudungun