A Mapuche leader, linguist, and activist reshaping Chile’s path toward inclusion and justice
“Peace means respecting all life – human, non-human, and spiritual.”
Elisa del Carmen Loncón Antileo is a Mapuche linguist, scholar, and activist from Chile, born in 1963 in the community of Lefweluan, in the Araucanía region. From a young age, she took part in Mapuche student and cultural movements, advocating for the linguistic, cultural, and territorial rights of her people. After earning a degree in English, she completed a master’s in linguistics and two doctorates—one in the humanities and one in literature—building a distinguished academic career devoted to studying language as a tool of power and identity.
Loncón has taught at various Chilean and international universities, promoting intercultural education and the preservation of Indigenous languages, particularly Mapudungun, which she views as a living and political heritage. She was one of the promoters of the General Law on the Linguistic Rights of Indigenous Peoples, aimed at recognizing and protecting native Chilean languages within the education system and public institutions.
Her political engagement reached historic significance in 2021, when she was elected as a representative of the Mapuche people to Chile’s Constitutional Convention, tasked with drafting a new constitution. On July 4 of that year, she was elected president of the Convention, becoming the first Indigenous woman to hold the position. During her tenure, she strongly defended principles of social justice, cultural pluralism, gender equality, environmental protection, and the recognition of Indigenous peoples as a foundational part of the Chilean nation.
Her language—both inclusive and symbolic—has sought to bridge modern political thought with the Mapuche worldview, grounded in balance among humans, communities, and nature. She has become an international reference in the fields of human rights, ecology, feminist, and Indigenous activism.
Elisa Loncón was named one of the 100 most influential women in the world by the BBC and one of the 25 most influential people by the Financial Times. She also received the René Cassin International Prize for Human Rights for her contribution to the defense of cultural and linguistic diversity.
Today, she continues her work as a teacher and researcher, promoting deep reflection on the need for an intercultural democracy and a renewed relationship between peoples and the Earth. For her, language and collective memory are instruments of liberation and resistance—tools to build a fairer and more inclusive future.
