Development without territory: the paradox of indigenous public policies in northern Chile

Abstract

For more than a decade I have worked as a consultant, lecturer, and researcher in territorial development with Aymara communities in northern Chile. I have participated in territorial roundtables, designed development plans, facilitated participatory diagnoses, and written reports for public institutions such as CONADI. Over time, however, I have begun to question whether these efforts—far from guaranteeing the collective rights of Indigenous peoples—have instead reproduced an assistentialist logic that fragments territory, exhausts communities, and forces them to operate within alien formats. This article arises from that discomfort, seeking to problematize the Indigenous policy model currently in force in Chile, with particular attention to the Chile Indígena program (2019–2023). Drawing on my own experience, I offer a critical reflection on the gap between the discourse of “Indigenous territorial development” and the realities of institutional implementation in contexts where territory remains a denied right.