This volume provides an up-to-date and in-depth summary and analysis of
the political practices of pre-Columbian communities of the Araucanians
or Mapuche of south-central Chile and adjacent regions. This synthesis
draws upon the empirical record documented in original research, as well
as a critical examination of previous studies. By applying both
archaeological and ethnohistorical approaches, the latter including
ethnography, this volume distinguishes itself from many other studies
that explore South American archaeology. Archaeological and
traditional-historical narratives of the pre-European past are
considered in their own terms and for the extent to which they can be
integrated in order to provide a more rounded and realistic
understanding than otherwise of the origins and courses of ecological,
economic, social and political changes in south-central Chile from late
pre-Hispanic times, through the contact period and up to Chile's
independence from Spain (ca. AD 1450-1810). Both the approach and the
results are discussed in the light of similar situations elsewhere.
Throughout its treatment, the volume continually comes back to two
central questions: (1) how did the varied practices, institutions and
worldviews of the Mapuche's ancient communities emerge as a historical
process that resisted the Spanish empire for more than 250 years? and
(2) how were these communities reproduced and transformed in the face of
ongoing culture contact and landscape change during the early Colonial
period? These questions are considered in light of contemporary
theoretical concepts regarding practice, landscape, environment, social
organization, materiality and community that will make the book relevant
for students and scholars interested in similar processes elsewhere.
