Mapuche struggles to obliterate dominant history: mythohistory, spiritual agency and shamanic historical consciousness in southern Chile
Identities February 1, 2013 Ana Mariella Bacigalupo 10 citations
The biographical mythohistory of Rosa Kurin, an ethnically mixed Mapuche-German shaman in late-1800s southern Chile, illustrates a 'shamanic historical consciousness' that blurs the line between history and myth. This mixed genre mediates different memories of the past, challenging dominant Chilean history and creating alternative indigenous histories. Mapuche shamanic mythohistories are both linear and cyclical: historical figures become mythical characters and vice versa, with mythical events recurring in historical ones. By mythologizing shamans and outsiders, Mapuche prioritize spiritual over political agency and reverse colonial dynamics of subordination. For rural Mapuche, mythohistories convey agency, ethnic identity, and ontology, offering a means to decolonize history and mobilize politically.