The Birth of the Word: Language, Force, and Mapuche Ritual

Authors

  • Magnus Course Universidade de Edinburgh

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/2179-0892.ra.2011.39648

Keywords:

Mapuche, Clastres, language, force, ritual authority.

Abstract

This paper seeks to approach the roles of priest, chief, and shaman – all present in the Mapuche ngillatun fertility ritual - from the perspective of their differential modes of relating through language. Language, as understood by rural Mapuche, emerges not solely from the intentions of individual speakers, but equally from the force – newen – constitutive of all being. Priests, chiefs, and shamans all seek to align themselves through speech to this force which instantiates itself through them. Such an observation casts new light on Clastres´ understanding of the relationship between chiefs and language. If we follow Mapuche in emphasizing the indexical rather than symbolic qualities of language, we see that Clastres´analysis of chiefly language as susceptible to a model of “exchange” becomes somewhat problematic.

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Published

2012-08-24

Issue

Vol. 54 No. 2 (2011)

Section

Dossiê

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How to Cite

Course, M. (2012). The Birth of the Word: Language, Force, and Mapuche Ritual. Revista De Antropologia, 54(2). https://doi.org/10.11606/2179-0892.ra.2011.39648