'Mi trabajo es escribir sobre Chile'. La escritora-cónsul Gabriela Mistral en la diplomacia pública chilena, 1932-1957

Abstract

This article focuses on Gabriela Mistral's role as Chile's promoter from her consular post between 1932 and 1957, inserting her work within the country's incipient public and cultural diplomacy. Her relationship with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is observed by understanding Mistral as an "intermediate agent" of foreign propaganda in relation with different aspects: Mistral's level of personal initiative in cultural propaganda matters, her work transferring knowledge on cultural diplomacy to her superiors, and the autonomy with which she worked. In this way, both the poet's individual work and the institutional functioning of foreign propaganda are explored. Ultimately, her case study suggests that the public and cultural diplomacy developed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was not very centralized and was largely driven by Chile's representatives abroad.