In this first book of a new Illinois Studies in Anthropology series, Professor L. C. Faron presents a detailed study of the social, economic, and political aspects of the reservation life of the some 200,000 Mapuche or Araucanian Indians in south-central Chile. The program of locating the Mapuche on reservations began in 1884, and undoubtedly has slowed the acculturation process. Faron presents imposing evidence that, despite what such authorities as Mischa Titiev have stated, the reservation Mapuche are not virtually indistinguishable from the poorer Chilean farmers who live in their vicinity.
The multitudinous Mapuche reservations continue to exist on a patrilineal basis even though unrelated kinship-groups have occasionally been introduced into the patrilineage, coming then to constitute subordinate lineages. The prerogatives of the reservation chiefs, although declining in scope, are still important. Mapuche sons marry girls from outside their own reservation or patrilineage, with their fathers and male relatives, often in consultation with the chief, providing land for the new couple. Mapuche girls leave their reservations in order to marry into different patrilineages. Matrilateral marriage continues to be the pattern, with the ideal being that the Mapuche boy marry the mother’s brother’s daughter, while the Mapuche girl should ideally marry the father’s sister’s son. Polygyny is still occasionally practiced and belief in sorcery prevails. But the Mapuche show remarkable desire to modernize their agricultural methods and are quite receptive to mechanization.
Reservation land is distributed in usufruct. A debate now rages as to whether división should be carried out, with each Indian assigned land in full ownership. Mapuche pressure groups favor división as a means of facilitating Indian acculturation, but differ in regard to the rate at which it should be accomplished. Most of the inarticulate Mapuche are suspicious of división while non-Indian Chileans favor it, hoping it will provide them with greater opportunity to despoil the Mapuche of land. On the other hand, Chile’s nonIndian population tends to oppose Mapuche acculturation, not wishing to see them become actual participants in society.
Historians may have occasional trouble with the technical terms in this study. Their efforts in attempting to overcome this obstacle will be richly rewarded because of the excellent quality of the book.
