The potency of indigenous "bibles" and biographies: Mapuche shamanic literacy and historical consciousness

Mapuche oral shamanic biographies and performancessome of which take the form of bibles and involve shamanic literaciesplay a central role in the production of indigenous history in southern Chile. In this article, I explain how and why a mixed-race Mapuche shaman charged me with writing about her life and practice in the form of such a bible. This book would become a ritual object and a means of storing her shamanic power by textualizing it, thereby allowing her to speak to a future audience. The realities and powers her bible stored could be extracted, transformed, circulated, and actualized for a variety of ends, even to bring about shamanic rebirth. Ultimately, I argue, through their use and interpretation of this kind of bible, Mapuche shamans expand academic notions of indigenous history and literacy. [shaman, text, Bible, mestizo, history, literacy, Mapuche, Chile]