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."
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