Abstract

The present study is framed in the context of historical violence in the central-south zone of our country, as a result of the conflict between the State, the Chilean society and the Mapuche people. The study presents an advance of a larger research, which aims to contribute to the understanding of the impact on mental and physical health of ethnic discrimination in Mapuche and non-Mapuche young people, high school and college students, who live in urban areas of the Metropolitan, Biobío and Araucanía regions. This paper shows the preliminary results obtained from the validation of a scale of perceived ethnic discrimination, which was obtained with the participation of 246 young students, who declared to be part of the Mapuche people. The findings suggest schools and justice centers are the places where the highest level of discrimination is perceived.