Join us on Monday, 22 July at the Hunter Council Chamber, at Victoria University of Wellington’s Kelburn campus for a public lecture by Dr Elisa Loncon Antileo (University of Santiago, Chile) on Plurinationality in Chile in the New Constitution: Current Difficulties & Challenges for Indigenous Peoples.

Dr Loncon was elected as one of the representatives of the Mapuche people to the Chilean Constitutional Convention and was then named the Convention’s first president (July 2021 – January 2022). The Convention was tasked with rewriting the dictatorship-era constitution.  This process began after mass protests across Chile in 2019 and a national vote in favour of replacing the old Constitution in 2020.  Chilean voters subsequently rejected the proposed revisions to the Constitution with a majority of 62% in September 2022.

 An Expert Commission then assisted in the drafting of another Constitution by a second Constituent Assembly in the first half of 2023.  The draft was then discussed by a Constituent Council.  56% of Chilean voters then rejected the second constitutional proposal in December 2023.

 In this public lecture, Dr Loncon will discuss her experiences in these constitutional processes and social and political movements as an Indigenous woman, academic and indigenous rights activist.  Don’t miss this unique opportunity to hear Dr Loncon’s perspectives where gender and indigeneity will be to the forefront in her lecture.