Machi decolonization

Overview of Machi
The Machi are the spiritual leaders of the indigenous Mapuche people of Chile and Argentina. They are predominately women and are thought of as mediators between humans and the Gods, spirits and ancestors in Mapuche spiritual life. In addition to mediating between the spiritual worlds, the Machi conduct healing sessions and lead community festivals and prayer sessions. They are thought of to play a central role in the Mapuche community and must undergo intense initiations before becoming a spiritual leader.
Machi “Gender”
Machi do not adhere to the strict gender roles that were brought to Chile, Argentina and much of the rest of the world through colonization. Instead, according to Ana Mariella Bacigalupo in her article Mapuche Shamanic Bodies and the Chilean State, “machi assume masculine, feminine,and cogender identities…for the purpose of healing” (322). Furthermore, the Machi believe that the ability to move between genders is a necessity to “’become divine,’ create new worlds, and transform sickness into health and unhappiness into well-being” (322).

Misconceptions of Machi in Theory
Mircea Eliade is one of the most well known theorists and writers about shamanism. In spite of this, some anthropologists and theorists, notably Barbara Tedlock,argue that Eliade’s viewpoint was severely limited. In her book The Woman in the Shaman’s Body, Tedlock argues that Eliade misconstrued all women shamans in his work, even going out of his way to deny all shamanic status to women. Tedlock states that Eliade refers to the women Machi “as ‘sorceresses,’saying they were evil persons who viciously attacked others by projecting injurious objects into their bodies” (64), leaving out other information on women Machi and portraying Machi as solely a man’s position. Tedlock argues that Eliade’s one-sided viewpoint on shamanism was so persuasive because of the times in which his work was published. She states, “his erasure of women from important religious roles was not even remarked upon for forty years” (64).
Ritual Practices as Decolonization
Male and female Machi utilize colonial and indigenous traditional gender roles and norms in order to, as Maria Lugones describes, " inhabit different worlds simultaneously, travel across them and keep all the memories" (1990, 398). Machi do not negate or conform to the erasure of indigenous values and practices perpetuated by colonialism, rather they adopt multiple gender systems in order to collectively create and maintain new indigenous identities in a postcolonial world. Mapuche individuals who may define themselves as Machi during rituals may choose to identify differently in an everyday context within Chilean society; one may adopt a term that signifies mixed-blood ancestry, a more individualistic disposition, or even as a witch, a term that implies a threat when used by a Machi, but is constructed within Chilean society as derogatory. As Ana Bacigalupo writes, “Machi insist on individual diversity and context-specific ways of constructing self and other. They contribute to constructions of identity, diversity, difference, and authenticity. Machi self-definition is shown to empower rather than segregate. As subjects of knowledge, machi theorizing is embedded in their ritual practice.”(2003, 34).
Traditional Healing Knowledge
Colonization has, in most cases, meant the total erasure or marginalization of indigenous knowledge, especially medicinal knowledge and practices. However, the continued use of and newly “recognized” validity of such healing practices has been a form of social, economic, and political empowerment for the Mapuche. This knowledge system includes vast stores of spiritual and ecological truths that have been passed through generations for many, many years. Healing practices played out by Machi serve as a claim to the presence of traditional knowledge, as well as the importance of the continuation and growth of that knowledge.

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