Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix
Editor’s Introduction 1
1. Chanco: Family, Land, and Culture 35
2. The Mapuche Movement under Dictatorship, 1973-1989 100
3. The Transition to Democracy 175
4. The Mapuche Movement under Democracy, 1990-1998 223
Conclusion 294
Afterword 327
Glossary 337
Notes 343
Index 363

Promotional Information

Testimonial text by a Mapuche woman, with commentary and other ethnographic interventions by a U.S. historian.

About the Author

Rosa Isolde Reuque Paillalef is a Mapuche feminist and political and human rights activist.

Florencia E. Mallon is Professor of Modern Latin American History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of Peasant and Nation: The Making of Postcolonial Mexico and Peru.

Reviews

"This book is a welcome addition to the encouraging and rapidly expanding literature on the many ways in which Native peoples are winning various degrees of recognition, autonomy, and influence in various countries. It is also an excellent addition to the relatively recent genre of testimonios... Editor Mallon skillfully interweaves discussions of history, international relations, the strengths and limitations of testimonios, and other themes with vivid characterization and detailed recounting of a rapidly changing lifestyle... Highly recommended."--D. B. Heath, Choice "Mallon has crafted a complex, rich, and deeply interesting testimonio of Isolde's life and role in the Chilean Mapuche movement... Mallon's study serves as one model for understanding the multiple and critical uses of oral history and testimonio in crafting important scholarly work."--Nancy Raquel Mirabal, The Oral History Review "Because the success stories, which inspire emulation, are interspersed with accounts where [Reuque Paillalef] failed to achieve her goals or maintain organizational cohesion, the book presents a balanced perspective. Her honesty and candidness discourage the reader from idealizing Mapuche people or simplifying Chile's recent past, yet by reading the monograph students and scholars alike will gain a more profound understanding of ethnic and gender relations under the distinct political structures of dictatorship and democracy."--David Carey Jr., South Eastern Latin Americanist "[A]n eloquent testimony."--Rosamel Millaman Reinao, American Anthropologist "[A] fascinating document."--Linda B. Hall, Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies "This book is an absorbing study of the past three decades of Mapuche history, through the eyes of a key protagonist of the struggle for the rights of the Mapuche, especially those of Mapuche women."--Margaret Power, The Americas Listed in HAHR, Yale Alumni Magazine, Library Journal, New Mexico Historical Review, Women's Review of Books, Feminist Academic Press column, and American Historical Review.