Regina Delgado Acevedo L&S Social Sciences
From Mapu to Mapudungun: Mapuche Sacred Landscapes and Ritual Practice
Derived from mapu (land) and che (people), the term Mapuche translates to “people of the land.” The language spoken by the Mapuche people of south-central Chile, Mapudungun, can be translated as “the speech of the land.”” This shared semantic foundation underscores the central role that mapu plays in Mapuche cultural frameworks.
With this premise in mind, this project examines Mapuche sacred landscapes by investigating ritual practice and space-making techniques. The project integrates ethnographic research, linguistic analysis, and archaeological survey in collaboration with a community centered around one of the region’s sacred lakes, a site that has been collectively protected and defended from occupation attempts both before and after Spanish colonization.
In collaboration with community mentors, the project employs ethnographic fieldwork to develop an understanding of ritual practice around land, while analyzing the ways in which space-making is encoded and mediated in linguistic practice. This framework is complemented by non-invasive archaeological survey that seeks to define spaces of continued ritual use as archaeologically and historically significant.
Message To Sponsor
It is with the deepest sense of gratitude that I write this. Your support makes it possible for me to fulfill the dream of an aspiring scholar, designing and performing research, while also breaking barriers, from securing funding as an international undergraduate, to redefining scholarship narratives surrounding South American landscapes. Your support helps highlight the importance of approaching the archaeology of living sacred land from a community-mentored ethnographic perspective. Thank you