Grafismo, multitemporalidad y textos como objetos de poder en la biografía de una Machi Mapuche en Chile

Mapuche oral shamanic biographies and performances, some taking the form of “bibles” involving shamanic literacies, are central to producing indigenous history in southern Chile. A mixed-race Mapuche shaman charged the author with writing her life and practice as such a “bible,” which would become a ritual object storing her shamanic power through textualization, allowing her to speak to a future audience. The stored realities and powers could be extracted, transformed, circulated, and actualized for various ends, even shamanic rebirth. The author argues that through their use and interpretation of these “bibles,” Mapuche shamans expand academic notions of indigenous history and literacy.

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Abstract

Mapuche oral shamanic biographies and performances —some of which take the form of “bibles” and involve shamanic literacies— play a central role in the production of indigenous history in southern Chile. In this article, I explain how and why a mixed-race Mapuche shaman charged me with writing about her life and practice in the form of such a “bible”. This book would become a ritual object and a means of storing her shamanic power by textualizing it, thereby allowing her to speak to a future audience. The realities and powers her “bible” stored could be extracted, transformed, circulated, and actualized for a variety of ends, even to bring about shamanic rebirth. Ultimately, I argue, through their use and interpretation of this kind of “bible”, Mapuche shamans expand academic notions of indigenous history and literacy.