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The Open Wound: Five Mapuche Texts

March 2023

Portraits of Elisa Taber and Liliana Ancalao
Elisa Taber (left) and Liliana Ancalao (right)
Living Words: An Introduction to Five Contemporary Mapuche Texts
By Elisa Taber & Liliana Ancalao
Liliana Ancalao and Elisa Taber discuss the genocide of the Mapuche people, and how Mapuche writing both stitches together that open wound and recognizes the historical and cultural continuity of this people.
Translated from Spanish by Elisa Taber
Multilingual
Photo of rocks and brush in Fitatimen, Río Negro
Photo: Liliana Ancalao
I Write to Purge This Memory
By Liliana Ancalao
Liliana Ancalao honors her Mapuche identity and records the violence the state committed against her people in the Conquest of the Desert and Occupation of Araucanía, violence that continues to this day.
Translated from Spanish by Liliana Ancalao & Seth Michelson
Multilingual
The Rahue River winding through lush greenery
Manuel cossu, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Reductions
By Jaime Huenún Villa
Jaime Huenún Villa remembers his Huilliche-Mapuche ancestors and their wise way of being in the territory.
Translated from Spanish by Cynthia Steele
Multilingual
A tall foye tree trunk shot from below, surrounded by leaves
Patricio Novoa Quezada, CC BY-NC 2.0, via Flickr
Letters Drawn from Foye Bark
By Adriana Paredes Pinda
Adriana Paredes Pinda considers the power and implications of writing, what it means to exist between languages, and the lasting effects of colonialism on the Mapuche people.
Translated from Spanish by Arthur Malcolm Dixon
Multilingual
A loom with Mapuche textiles
Marco Antonio Correa Flores, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Following Luminous Traces
By Daniela Catrileo
Daniela Catrileo reaffirms the existence of Mapuche literature—historically considered static or even nonexistent—as a vital, diverse, and growing body of work.
Translated from Spanish by Edith Adams
Multilingual