Manuel Manquilef
Manuel Manquilef | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Chamber of Deputies | |
| In office 15 May 1926 – 6 June 1932 | |
| Constituency | 21st Departamental Grouping |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 31 May 1887 Maquehua, Chile |
| Died | 12 June 1950 (aged 63) |
| Party | Liberal Democratic Party |
| Spouse | Carolina Rossat |
| Children | 5 |
| Parent(s) | Fermín Manquilef Trinidad González |
| Occupation | Teacher, writer, politician |
Manuel Segundo Manquilef González (31 May 1887 – 12 June 1950) was a Chilean educator, writer, and politician of Mapuche origin who served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies.[1]
Early life and family
He was born in the Maquehua district of Mutrenco (now Metrenco), in the present-day Araucanía Region, on 31 May 1887.[1] He was the son of the lonko Fermín Trekaman Manquilef Rivero-Ilabaca and Trinidad González de Villagra.[1]
He spent his early years under the care of his paternal grandmother in Pelal, near the community of Quepe, currently part of the commune of Freire. These lands had belonged to his father.[1]
He married Carolina Rossat Valleta, and they had five children.[1]
Education and teaching career
He studied at the School of Mutrenco, the Elementary School of Temuco (1892 and 1897), the Superior School of Temuco (1898–1899), and the Liceo of Temuco in 1900. Between 1902 and 1906, he attended the Normal School of Chillán.[1]
On 24 December 1906 and in 1908, respectively, he qualified as a primary school teacher of Spanish and as a teacher of Calligraphy and Physical Education.[1]
In 1907, he began working as librarian and clerk at the Liceo of Temuco, collaborating with the anthropologist and ethnologist Tomás Guevara Silva.[1]
He taught Mapudungun and Spanish at the Liceo de Hombres of Temuco from 1906 to 1926. After returning to teaching, he served as professor at the Liceo de Hombres of La Unión between 1939 and 1940, resigning for health reasons.[1]
He was a writer and author of works generally focused on the Mapuche people. Together with Tomás Guevara, he published Psicolojía Araucana (1908) and Folklore Araucano (1911). He also authored the bilingual text Los Comentarios del Pueblo Araucano, published in two parts in 1911 and 1914. He occasionally wrote under the pseudonym Lef Kiman.[1]
Political career
In 1910, together with a group of Mapuche leaders and politicians, he founded the Sociedad Caupolicán Defensora de la Araucanía, one of the principal Mapuche organizations of the first half of the twentieth century. He was elected its president in 1916 and again in 1920, maintaining leadership in the organization until 1925.[1]
Around 1916, as representative of the Sociedad Caupolicán, he was invited to participate in the Catholic Araucanian Congress, a political-religious meeting organized by the Catholic Church.[1]
He was a member of the Liberal Democratic Party until 1932. During the 1930s he distanced himself from the Sociedad Caupolicán.[1]
He was elected deputy for the 21st Departamental Grouping of “Llaima, Imperial and Temuco” for the periods 1926–1930 and 1930–1934.[1] His second term ended prematurely following the dissolution of Congress on 6 June 1932 after the revolutionary movement of 4 June.[1]
He was later appointed Governor of Lautaro between 1936 and 1937 by President Arturo Alessandri Palma.[1]
He died on 12 June 1950.[1]