Mapuche Community, Winka Society and the ‘Included Third’: The Pormas of Paicaví During the 19th and 20th Centuries

Authors

  • Rolf Foerster Departamento de Antropología, Universidad de Chile. Av. Capitán Ignacio Carrera Pinto 1045, Ñuñoa
  • Marcelo González Gálvez Investigador postdoctoral FONDECYT, Departamento de Antropología, Universidad de Chile. Av. Capitán Ignacio Carrera Pinto 1045, Ñuñoa

Abstract

This paper attempts a historical and structural reconstruction of Paicaví rewe and its leaders during the 19th and 20th centuries. By analyzing several dynamics emerging from various socio-historical contexts of the Mapuche-State relationship, we visualize certain stability in the role of the leader and its implications regarding the community. From both historical and ethnographical data, we construe leadership in terms of what we call the ‘included third’, a person who is mediating and reproducing the Mapuche/winka distinction, and who is legitimated by a ‘gift pact’.

Keywords:

Paicaví, Cacique Porma, Mapuche Leadership, Included Third, Gift Pact