Paper short abstract:

In the proposed paper I will address the Pehuenche practice of weaning an infant by placing him or her under the care of a female relative. This practice is also one in the earliest ways in which children learn about autonomy and sociability, two fundamental traits of Pehuenche personhood.

Paper long abstract:

In the proposed paper I will address the Pehuenche practice of weaning an infant by placing him or her under the care of a female relative for a few days until the infant doesn't ask to be breastfed anymore. This practice is grounded on the idea that even very young infants, are more obedient and conforming when their mothers are not around. It is also one in the earliest ways in which Pehuenche children learn about autonomy and sociability.

The data presented here is a product of my ongoing PhD research about childcare and family life among the Pehuenche, a subgroup of the Mapuche people of southern Chile, which aims to understand the potential role of care and attachment in fostering sociability. Specifically I explore the underlying ideas and practices of kinship and personhood that are involved. Recent literature on this indigenous group has been mostly concerned with history, shamanism, personhood and the relationship with the Chilean State. Little attention has been payed to relations of intimacy and emotionality that are shaped and expressed through care. I attempt to fill that gap following the lead of recent developments in Amazonian studies placing more attention to everyday domesticity, discourse on emotion and relations of intimacy.

Both anthropology and psychoanalysis go to lengths on explaining the importance of the bond created through breastfeeding. This paper aims to explore the relevance of the early experience of weaving on fostering two key traits of Mapuche personhood independence and the capacity for productive social interaction.