Azmapu - by Elisa Loncon (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Mapuche scholar and activist Elisa Loncon shares the philosophy guiding her fight for Indigenous and environmental rights.

In 2021, Mapuche scholar Elisa Loncon led Chile's historic effort to revise its constitution. Her attempts to formally recognize Indigenous and environmental rights challenged entrenched ideas about power and reverberated internationally.

In this intimate book, Loncon shares the Indigenous knowledge system that shapes her work as a scholar and human rights activist. Azmapu introduces readers to Mapuche philosophy, which is rooted in Mapuzugun (meaning the "language of the Earth"). Rejecting Western ideas about human dominance over nature, this book elevates a worldview in which all beings are interconnected.

Loncon explains how the Mapuche concept of küme mogen, "good living," results from people being in balance with nature. She explores Mapuche understandings of language, governance, ceremony, and gender and sexuality. She also highlights the vital role Indigenous women play in resisting colonialism and in knowledge transmission.

Rooted in Mapuche teachings yet resonating far beyond, Azmapu offers an alternative vision for how humans might live with the Earth.

Review Quotes

"At a time of deep and multiple planetary crises, this book breaches one of many divides between north and south, and allows us to imagine other ways of living, of relating to more life forms, and to respecting Mother Earth in more ways than one can conceive through Western knowledge."

"This timely work is a reminder of humanity at its best - rooted in the wisdom of the feminine and guided by practices of interdependence and collective wellbeing. Elisa Loncon generously shares the depth of Mapuche philosophy, language, and knowledge of the earth, inviting us to imagine and nurture better relations of all kinds for the future."

About the Author

Elisa Loncon is an internationally renowned Indigenous and environmental rights activist and an associate professor in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Santiago, Chile. In 2021, she was elected to represent the Mapuche people in the Chilean Constitutional Convention and then served as the Convention's first president. TIME magazine named her one of the world's "100 Most Influential People," and she was also recognized by the Financial Times as one of the "25 Most Influential Women of 2021." JuanFrancisco Salazar is a professor of communication and media and the director of the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University, Australia. He has developed pioneering Indigenous media projects and has worked with communities and organizations in Australia, Chile, Colombia, Fiji, Vanuatu, Mexico, and Antarctica. His creative work has been shown at prestigious venues and festivals such as the Venice Biennale, Serpentine Galleries in London, and the Biennale of Sydney. He is a member of the editorial board of the journals Public Humanities, The Polar Journal, Media+Environment, and Cultural Anthropology.