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CALL FOR PAPERS NOMADIAS MAGAZINE No. 33 2024.

Special issue sex/dissident: 25 years since the decriminalization of sodomy in Chile, and 51 years since the first homosexual protest.

NOMADÍAS CUIR/QUEER/KUIR. A political/sexual dissident speech to think about the south-south.

For more information, see the following link.

Mapuche shamanic justice and discrimination in Chilean courts: the struggles of LGBT judge Karen Atala for the custody of her daughters and for legal pluralism

Authors

  • Ana Mariella Bacigalupo Universidad de Buffalo. EEUU
  • Fabien Le Bonniec Universidad Católica de Temuco
No. 33 Diciembre (2024)

Abstract

Judge Karen Atala framed her child custody case against the Chilean Supreme Court within Indigenous Mapuche “shamanic justice,” the “spirit of the law,” and human rights. We analyze what Atala’s case contributes to the literature on sexual diversity, sorcery, and the spirit of the law in both Chilean and Mapuche histories of justice. The case engages the spirit of the law in two senses. First, it reveals the lack of separation between religious and secular law, demonstrating that religion is profoundly embedded in the law, both for the state and for the Mapuche. Second, it refers to the intention behind the law and its interpretation and enforcement, which haunts even the most literalist, secular visions of law. After her spiritual transformation, Atala practiced the spirit of Mapuche customary law in the courts but formally justified her judgments using the letter of the Chilean law, demonstrating a fluidity between law and spirituality.

Keywords:

Religion, law, justice, LGBT, child custody, customary law, visions, shamanism, Mapuche, Chile

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How to Cite
Bacigalupo, A. M., & Le Bonniec, F. (2025). Mapuche shamanic justice and discrimination in Chilean courts: the struggles of LGBT judge Karen Atala for the custody of her daughters and for legal pluralism. Nomadías, (33 Diciembre), 125–174. Retrieved from https://revistateatro.uchile.cl/index.php/NO/article/view/77893
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