Animals and plants as decision-making entities in mapuche oral memory. Reflections from biopoetics and the regulations of Az Mapu

Abstract

The diverse and attentive ways in which the existence of non-human beings is carried out are central concerns in certain contemporary debates. In this paper we seek to develop a series of reflections based on various elements of what is known as “nature” which lead to the reaffirmation of ideas already proposed by authors such as Eduardo Viveiros de Castro and Marisol de la Cadena: namely, that Indigenous peoples have long sustained a cultural, ethical, social, and spiritual organization grounded in horizontal relations and in political affectivity toward other species. Rather than proposing an original hypothesis, our interest lies in exploring these arguments from a biopoetic perspective and from mapuche rakizuam (Mapuche thought). We believe that such an approach helps to underscore the decisive contributions these peoples offer to the problems of the present. We focus on narratives from Mapuche oral memory: epew, piam, and nütxam, genres whose testimonies uphold a set of fundamental values for buen vivir (good living) and which may be synthesized under the concept of Az Mapu and are expressed in representations found in contemporary Mapuche literature. These texts propose a form of knowledge (kimün) about plants (anümka) and animals (kulliñ) in which not only their capacity for agency is evident, but also diverse political interventions in relation to the human person (che) and its particular role in the production and regulation of knowledge. The epew have been collected and/or written by Tomás Cañicul Quilaleo (Puelmapu) and Graciela Huinao (Gulumapu). The nütxam and piam were documented through anthropology, history, and oral memory. The poems belong to María Teresa Panchillo (Gulumapu) and Ailin Ñancucheo (Puelmapu).