Thunder Shaman: Making History with Mapuche Spirits in Chile and Patagonia
Project Muse May 17, 2016 Ana Mariella Bacigalupo 17 citations
The book Thunder Shaman describes the life and spiritual work of Francisca Kolipi, a Mapuche shaman who traveled through time and space as a thunder shaman mounted on a spirit horse. She gained power to conduct spiritual warfare against forestry companies, settlers, and other threats to her community. As a civilized shaman, she narrated the Mapuche people's attachment to sacred landscapes and created nonlinear histories in which Mapuche become history's spiritual victors. The work is both an academic text and a ritual object intended to act as a shamanic bible, embodying Francisca's power after her death in 1996. It shows how shamans are shaped by historical-political and ecological events while actively creating history through shamanic imaginaries.