“We do not want to be served. We want to serve Chile”. The Role of Mothers’ Centers in rural areas of Southern Chile between 1973 and 1983

Abstract

This article analyzes historically the relationship of rural mothers in Southern Chile with Mothers’ Centers during the first decade of the Civil-Military Dictatorship. How did the Mothers’ Centers impact on the social organization of rural women in Southern Chile between the seventies and the eighties? How was the economy of peasant women transformed through the guidelines of the Mothers’ Centers? What specific discourses were addressed to rural southern mothers during the period of study? This article claims that despite the existence of Mothers’ Centers “refounded” after the dictatorship, their impact was hindered by the historicity of women from Llanquihue and Chiloe, most of whom did not participate in these instances as they prioritized family-subsistence-related labor in remote geographical areas, or because of the political rejection of these women for their experiences of organization before the military coup.