The Fleur-de-Lis in the Desert: Marks of the Freemasonry on the Boy Scouts of Arica (Chile, 1912-1929)

Abstract

In this article, we examine the early history of the boy scouts of Arica, children’s organization coordinated by Chilean masonry. It is suggested that the ultranationalist practices of Arican scouting are a natural derivation of a mayor project of social transformation: the chileanization. Based on newspapers and secondary sources, this work detects an ambivalence produced by these Boy Scouts in the lay and Catholic world; it details its ties with the “Instituto Comercial” and shows how the hegemonic discourse supported by the “process of civilization” of the city, was a conditioning factor of the public symbolic manifestations of the Brigades. The conclusions reflect about a) Freemasonry’s vision of childhood b) its strategies of social control and “ideologization” c) the importance of Chilean nationalism in the elite’s children group assigned to hold a  future privileged position within the society of the border area of Chile.