Azmapu: A Mapuche Philosophy of Care

In 2021, Mapuche scholar and activist 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 and introduces readers to Mapuche philosophy, which is rooted in Mapuzugun (the "language of the Earth"). She explains how küme mogen, "good living," results from people being in balance with nature, and explores Mapuche understandings of language, governance, ceremony, and gender and sexuality, while also highlighting the vital role of Indigenous in knowledge transmission and resisting colonialism. Rejecting Western ideas about human dominance, Azmapu elevates a world view in which all beings are interconnected and offers an alternative vision for how humans might live with the Earth.