Christopher Culbertson (Cultural Area Studies: Latin American History) has always had an intensely personal interest in Chilean culture and history. Christopher was born in Santiago to a Mapuche woman, but has lived in the United States since he was six months old. He and his North American family have traveled to Chile in the intervening years, keeping his ties to the country strong.
This summer as the recipient of the 2009-2010 Kendall-Rives Latin American Research Grant, Christopher traveled to Temuco, Chile to investigate Mapuche cultural identity. The Kendall-Rives Grant funds student research by sophomores or juniors conducted in a Latin American country as part of an Independent Study project on some aspect of U.S.-Latin American relations. The opportunity to do research abroad enhances both student language skills and depth of knowledge about Latin American peoples and cultures.
As part of his preparation for his Independent Study project, Christopher worked with the Fundación Chol-Chol (Chol-Chol Foundation), a Mapuche non-governmental organization that promotes the preservation of indigenous culture by marketing artisans’ work through a fair-trade cooperative. The foundation asked Christopher to design a project that would both further his scholarly research and provide a needed product for the community. Christopher proposed creating three short documentaries featuring Mapuche artisans and the fair-trade cooperative that the foundation could use as part of their fundraising and marketing.
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Working alongside Chol-Chol volunteers, Christopher participated in presentations about Mapuche culture for local schools, interviewed Mapuche poets, and documented the work of Mapuche artisans. While he gathered material for the documentary, he furthered his research into Mapuche cultural identity. Christopher wanted to understand how the Mapuche construct their identity within a larger Chilean culture that presents them as “timeless” relics belonging to the past, and at the same time attempts to deny them space within the construction of contemporary Chilean public life.
While in Temuco, Christopher wrote a research blog reflecting on his experience negotiating multiple identities as a Mapuche and a Chilean raised outside of the larger community. His work culminated with an original documentary on the history of the Fundación Chol-Chol available on Youtube. Christopher’s project is a wonderful example both of the possibilities opened for student growth opened by supporting I.S. research in Latin America, and a thoughtful service project that benefited both the student and his host community.
Christopher’s experience working in Chol-Chol presented an additional opportunity for him to investigate his identity within the Mapuche community. Through interviews about his work and personal history disseminated through regional radio stations and newspapers, Christopher was able to contact his Mapuche family. The chance to meet his biological mother and extended family was an unexpected reward.
Check out Christopher’s blog, and keep your eyes posted for the call for this year’s Kendall-Rives Grant competition this fall. Who knows what opportunities for intellectual growth and personal discovery await!