Digital Mapuche activism between decolonisation and digital warfare

Sebastian Garbe

Third World Quarterly, 2025, vol. 46, issue 10, 1156-1172

Abstract: The resistance of Mapuche organisations and communities against state repression and continued forms of coloniality in contemporary Chile is one of today’s most visible and active Indigenous movements in Latin America. A key factor of this increased visibility is digital Mapuche activism, in which information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been adopted by Mapuche organisations and communities since the late 1990s. This paper will discuss digital Mapuche activism as part of the ongoing academic debates on social and Indigenous movements and the digitalisation of their political mobilisation towards decolonisation. The paper will introduce some key players and noteworthy ­characteristics of digital Mapuche activism before discussing its contemporary developments. These include the struggle over representation, the transformation of (traditional) community roles within Mapuche society, and the language of digital Mapuche activism. The last part of the paper showcases two episodes of digital warfare against this new type of Mapuche resistance. Consequently, whilst digital Mapuche activism has become a powerful tool for decolonisation, it is increasingly contested through digital repression.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2024.2372338

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