Is there an Afro-descendant matriarchy in Chile? An ethnographic study with Afro-Chilean women from the Azapa valley

This article addresses the study of afrochilean women from Azapa valley, as having african descent in a country that to date denies their existence as a differentiated population, under the articulation of concepts such as race and racialization. For this reason, the importance of the female population had throughout the history of their community, from the period of enslavement to the present, will be highlighted as primordial actresses in the reconstruction of identity dynamics through memory, oral writing, and the resistance generated in different spaces socio-cultural and political. In this way, the degree of relevance that they have within the afro community in the valley is questioned, particularly the "Cruz de Mayo" religious celebration. There are some female powers of the valley, called matriarchs; They are the recognized ancestors: Julia Corvacho, and Flora Cardoso, to name a few. From there, the kinship ties stand out as the social positions of the afroazapenas in this possible system of matriarchy.