Indigenous Juridicity and Cultural Differences: When Judges Discuss Culture in Cases of Domestic Violence in the Mapuche Community Context (Chile)

The approval of 17 compensation agreements to resolve domestic violence cases in Mapuche indigenous communities has led to intense controversy in southern Chile. These agreements are based on the principle of internal conflict resolution promoted by the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 169. These agreements have traditionally been banned in cases of domestic violence and have resulted in significant legal controversy over the recognition of indigenous juridicity which, following media coverage, has become a public concern about violence against women in the Mapuche community context. Studying the development of the controversy, its sociolegal analysis, the positioning of these actors and the case of a compensation agreement in the context of domestic violence enables us to see that the latter reflects more general issues connected to the history of Chilean society’s relationship with the Mapuche, the relationship of the law and its officers with indigenous culture, and cultural differences.