Meet our host

After contacting a professor of South American indigenous history from Midsweden University, we were fortunate enough to be put in touch with Jacqueline Caniguan, who is a professor at Universidad de la Frontera. She agreed to host us during the two weeks we would be staying in Temuco. Mrs Caniguan is a prominent figure in the city’s indigenous community, being one of the only Mapuche women of her age in her area to have attended university. There, she studied Spanish literature, before becoming a professor herself. Mrs Caniguan also holds a masters in Linguistics from UNAM university, Mexico. She is a recognised poet, frequently reinvindicating her indigenous identity in her works, and denouncing the Chilean government's effort to suppress the Mapudungun language, motivated by a political agenda. We both feel extremely lucky to be able to stay in her home. Mrs Caniguan has proposed to present us to some of her colleagues at universidad de la frontera in Temuco, whose work could greatly help us in our project. Spending time with her will without doubts be very gratifying, enabling us to get a deeper understanding of the issues we will look at.