Decentralising power: Regionalisation and Autonomy in the Aymara area. An analysis of press from Bolivia and the far north of Chile (2014 and 2015).

Abstract

Decentralization processes have had relevance in Latin America, especially for the indigenous population, who, through these processes, have been able to expose their demands for recognition policies. For this research, the regionalization processes in the regions of the extreme north of Chile and the autonomy in La Paz, Bolivia, which respond to the Aymara area, are analyzed. The analysis focuses on the discursive construction of these topics in the official newspapers La Razón, La Estrella de Arica and La Estrella de Iquique. Official newspapers are considered because they are processes carried out by governments. The relevance lies in observing the different topics that cross the decentralization processes concerning the same indigenous people but with a presence in two States. The question that guides this research is how the discourses on decentralization, regionalism and indigenous autonomy are constructed in the newspapers La Razón, La Estrella de Arica and La Estrella de Iquique. The hypothesis guiding this research is that the decentralization processes have served to evidence the political demands of the indigenous populations, a situation that is made visible in the press.