Abstract

In the northernmost parts of Chile, assimilation policies that defined indigenous populations as foreign and racially non-white characterized the construction of the Chilean nation-state. Despite discrimination and stigmatization, the Aymara people have maintained festive-ritual ties to their native territories in the Andes and modernized their festivals, ceremonies, dances, and music in urban settings. Considering the practices, views and emotions of the Aymara dancers and their descendants, I suggest that the performances at the Andean Carnival Inti Chamampi, Con La Fuerza del Sol in Arica -a city in the Arica and Parinacota Region of Chile- embody the practices and experiences of a people that problematizes their historical alterity from the Chilean nation and the schema of social, historical and political representation imposed upon them under the logic of legal citizenship. As such, the performances are political strategies to intervene and dialogue with public space and position embodied memories and knowledge to outline a landscape that becomes multiple.