The birdie

"This old photograph shows me and my granny, Laura Carrasco Cisternas, who was born and raised in Contulmo, and went to Concepcion to go to school when she was nine. She wound up going to night school, because during the day she worked in a hat-making factory. She raised her children in the city, but all of them were fortunate enough to maintain contact with their peasant roots in Contulmo.


Used with contempt by the majority in Chile, my Granny says the word "Indian" with a pride and an assurance that we, her grandchildren, inherited. When I was six or seven, I was convinced that she was "Caupolicán’s granddaughter and the niece of Galvarino" (leaders of the Mapuche people). It was her way of revealing to me a truth that I suspect her parents chose not to talk about too much. A truth contained in a phrase that defined my roots, and those of the Chilean people: "I'm an Indian, look at me." "


Luz María Zúñiga Vega (born 1965), Concepción