The present article reviews two dimensions of Chilean indigenismo that question some of the fundamental premises underlying the most classic definitions of inter-American indigenismo: the participation of indigenous people as actors and not mere recipients of indigenismo policies; and the existence of indigenous organizations not only within the state apparatus, but outside of it. This reveals how the study of and reflection around the more "peripheral" spaces in the field of inter-American indigenismo illuminate certain elements that the more totalizing notions of indigenismo have tended to obscure.