Reviews
this outstanding book provides an original and well-documented perspective on the history of indigenous people in Chile…summing up: Essential.
--CHOICE
This sensitively written book provides readers with a full appreciation of the plight of the Mapuche in modern Chile. Its lucid prose, free of the jargon that all too often mars such works, made it a joy to read.
--International Affairs
This lucidly written book adds to the increasingly rich literature dealing with strategies employed by indigenous groups in Latin America as they negotiate with central states for greater cultural and political autonomy.
--American Historical Review
A nuanced and insightful analysis of the myriad ways in which Mapuche have responded to state notions of ethnic and national identity.
--Journal of Latin American Studies
Crow shows that binary representations (victim-oppressor) are only one of the many expressions of Mapuche-Chilean relations, and she creates a reading approach that reflect this complexity.
--Mester, 42 (1)
We can be pleased with this publication because there rarely appear non-Hispanic books about the Mapuche…. [A] fascinating and original book.
--La Chispa: The Latin America Magazine
Crow convincingly breaks with the tradition of classifying the Mapuche too simply as victims and the rest of the people as victimizers. For example, she demonstrates that Mapuche chiefs fought side by side with Chilean conquistadors during la Pacificación. At the same time, she points out that governmental debates about the “Indian question” have always been varied and contradictory, including under dictatorial regimes.
--Iberoamericana
Shows how the discourse of metizaje (cultural and racial mixing), instead of granting the Mapuche people an increased presence within Chilean society, allows for the ignoring of their existence, putting contemporary Mapuche identity in doubt or denial.
--Hispanic American Historical Review
A ground-breaking contribution to the emerging field of Mapuche studies....Goes beyond a classic chronological narrative to illustrate how specific images about the past are articulated, exchanged, and disputed within particular historical formations....[and] demonstrates the profoundly dialogical and contested nature of culture in the context of interethnic relations in Chile.
--Mountain Research and Development