Social motivations in Mapuche trafkintu: toward cosmology, recovery, and critique

Abstract

This article investigates social motivations in trafkintu (exchange), a concept derived from the Mapuche (Indigenous people of southcentral Chile and southwestern Argentina: literally, people of the land). We propose five key motivations for trafkintu, reciprocity, solidarity, cosmological, recovery, and critique. While reciprocity and solidarity are commonly associated with exchanges, we argue that from a Mapuche perspective it is essential also to relate them to a cosmological motivation, something often neglected by the anthropocentric focus of western academics. The motivations of recovery and critique reject the idea that Indigenous economical concepts only explain the past by considering the contemporary context of trafkintu. Recovery and critique testify to the colonial economic onslaught and the difficulty of reproducing the motivations of reciprocity, solidarity, and cosmology within a market-driven economy. Recovery and critique motivate trafkintu as a heterodox economic institution with strategic similarities to other anti-hegemonic forces, making them potential allies.