“Begin at the beginning,” the King said, very gravely, “and go on till you come to the end: then stop.” — Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland.
When we think of archiving, the mind might jump to dusty boxes of files, endless rows of cabinets, or shelves weighed down by old papers and books — organized in a way that seems to go on forever. Maybe we even picture the digital world, with its infinite files tucked away in the cloud. Either way, archiving often feels like a dull, lifeless task — far from inspiring or exciting.
But here’s the twist: this is exactly the key to it all — the secret behind every colonizing scheme — the meticulous control and management of data, including intellectual property. Reclaming archiving is not just about organizing the past but unlocking potential for new knowledge and endless possibilities beyond colonial modalities of control.
Archives shape the history of tomorrow
Human-created archives are multiple fractions of one entity and multiple layers of themselves, all at the same time. For thousands of years, they reflect our doing as humans, as a collective, in our complexities. (The act of archiving in the natural world is, in itself, a whole other element and would be worth exploring one day. Trees store information!)
Historically, what we know most of today stems from written records. Written records were rooted in archives, and whoever controlled these archives held influence over the directory of that society or civilization — such as the early formation of the Western state from the land of Mesopotamia, where archives were essential in governance, law, and the administration of land and resources.
In oral-based societies, such as many Native American and First Nations communities, memory has, and continues to serve, as the primary archive. Songs, stories, and spoken societies hold and transmit wisdom and knowledge across generations. Emerging through memory and performance, they carry profound insights about culture, history, and the environment. Still, with new technological tools, their memory is further preserved as a living archive, preserving and adapting knowledge in time.
As an ally and researcher in two Mapuche archiving projects in the territories of Lake Budi and Pukon in today’s southern Chile, I wanted to share some reflections on where it all clicks: Archiving is the backbone for building the next wave of economic paradigms.
I have learned that co-creating a more dynamic and inclusive Indigenous-led economic future does constitute incorporating innovative technologies and tools, such as archiving. Recognizing the control of data and intellectual property is essential in addressing the lingering effects of colonialism. My hope is that, as a post-growth society, we can challenge dominant economic frameworks in these regions by critically examining who holds the reins of knowledge.
There are diverse ways Indigenous communities seek to address contemporary challenges while preserving their cultural heritage, environmental resources, and livelihoods. The livelihoods of Indigenous communities, which encompass their traditional ways of living and resource management, are closely intertwined with their collective memory and knowledge. This means that the archiving process involves documenting the knowledge and practices of the past and capturing and storing the new knowledge generated through ongoing Indigenous livelihood activities. In essence, the archive serves as a repository for both historical and contemporary knowledge, reflecting the dynamic relationship between Indigenous communities and their environments across time.
In Chile, the Indigenous communities are government-recognized around what they call “Comunidades.” Comunidades can be composed of as little as 12 families to over 200, depending on the territory, context, and history. According to the Chile National Corporation for Indigenous Development (CONADI), in 2024, there are 4,270 Mapuche Communities in Chile. They all consider themselves Mapuche but can differ from Mapuche of the Andes mountains (Pehuenche), of the Seas (Lafkenche), the south (Huilliche), and Picunche (north of the BioBio region). They can also identify themselves as urban. Yet, although they are recognized as an ethnicity, they are not recognized as a People in the current constitution, or in other words, as a self-determined Nation. Comunidades are, in other words, non-profit entities, with their own bank accounts, but with no right to accumulate monetary wealth. That said, Traditional Governance and Authorities continue to thrive and be self-governed, despite the view of the state.
Landscape People of the Mountains: Digital preservation of local heritage in Pukon
Community-led efforts are underway to raise awareness of Mapuche People of the Mountain’s cultural heritage in Pukon, a town nestled in the Andean foothills, alongside the active volcano Rukapillán (Villarrica).
The Mapuche Council of Pucón honors the deep respect and ceremonial connection to Rukapillan (Villarrica Volcano), preserving their sacred relationship with the land.
Pukon borders three municipalities and has vast, expansive, shimmering blue ancient glacier waters stretching beneath the open sky like a mirror reflecting the clouds above. Despite the influx of thousands of tourists from all over (Chileans, Argentinians, Europeans, Brazilians) to this picturesque area, their exposure to the rich local Mapuche culture has been limited. In this urban environment around Lake Mallolafken, the focus on neoliberal and colonial economic models has, over time, devalued traditional artisanal skills and practices in favor of more lucrative industries such as mass tourism, property speculation, and widespread development. Without a Mapuche-led cultural center, or a Mapuche-led museum, the pattern will continue.
As stated in the documentation of the ‘Digitization and Enhancement of Cultural Heritage Objects of the Mapuche Council of Pukon’, this territory “could be characterized by the almost total invisibility of Mapuche material and intangible heritage within the context of touristification” (PukonMapuche.cl, 2023). There is indeed a profound need for the delicate care of cultural heritage, especially within Indigenous contexts. In the realm of digitization, new values emerge to be unraveled, woven together with ancestral traditions and the narratives they carry. In this intimate process, it is the families themselves who step into the role of conservator-restorer, entrusted with the care and destiny of their cherished family objects, deciding how best to honor their ancestors and preserve their spirit for generations to come (Szmelter, 2013). And sometimes, the use of objects is the way to honor their life and continuity. The dream is to one day have a Mapuche safe space for the communities to share Mapuche history and culture, such as a live museum or hub in the town of Pucon.
Efforts to create outlets for Mapuche cultural products or practices as tourist attractions have gradually emerged in recent decades, potentially benefitting some specific individuals or groups within the community. Despite these attempts, the post-colonial agents fail to include Mapuches´ participation in discussions of infrastructure, urban planning, and even the creation of new museums. Furthermore, urbanization has also been recognized as loosening connections to traditional practices and knowledge systems, contributing to a decline in the value and continuity of some informal cultural economies (Chaos, 2018).
In this context, Mapuche-led initiatives are working to elevate the voices and visibility of Mapuche communities within a tourism-dominated landscape, with the ultimate goal of establishing a physical space. For now, the focus is on creating a digital museum and cultural archive of family artifacts, primarily aimed at engaging the Mapuche youth of Pucón.
In 2022, Mapuche leaders and community members of the Mapuche Council of Pucon developed a software archive and tool linked to the digitalization of family collections of tangible heritage and heirlooms. The ability to digitize and share stories of family objects that hold significance in Mapuche material heritage preserves the intergenerational transmission of cultural knowledge.
In addition to better protecting, conserving, and accessing their family objects, the families see the digital archive’s role as related to communication and education. Although temporarily virtual, it is intended to act as a community-led space to inform Mapuche families of their territory and the region’s rich cultural heritage and history and continue decolonizing European-centric perspectives on Mapuche land and territory. Some of the archive is available to the public at pukonmapuche.cl
Reviving the Mapuche language and honoring traditional leadership emerged as pivotal elements in the quest to safeguard and promote Mapuche heritage. The resulting digital archive houses over 35 family objects, accompanied by their stories and visual representations, including 3D records, technical-scientific data, ethnographic insights, and narrative content.
Landscape People of the Seas: Revitalizing a plant archive in Lake Budi
Lake Budi, about 120 kilometers away from Pukon and the only salt lake in Latin America, is home to about 15,000 Mapuche-Lafkenche community members, whose ancestral territories include the shores of Lake Budi, also known as Budi. In south-central Chile, the Mapuche communities have ancestrally been dedicated to artisanal fishing, small-scale agriculture, and textile production. Cultural inheritance is deeply entwined with the natural world, encompassing the transmission of knowledge, traditions and spiritual beliefs relating to the land, water and biodiversity that is indigenous to the region.
In this region, there’s a tale of a man called the “gringo”, Eleuterio Domínguez from the Canary Islands. He tried to take the lands of the local Mapuche people but faced strong resistance from Chief Pedro Painen and even a priest named Friar Félix de Augusta. Despite their resistance efforts, Domínguez’s name remains tied to one of the two towns near Lake Budi, Puerto Domínguez, established in 1902, along with Puerto Saavedra, named after the military leader involved in the region’s “pacification” efforts (Le Bonniec, 2006, p. 553).
Lake Budi, formed due to a tsunami in the 1970s, within the sacred Ayllarewe Lafkenche Ceremonial Lands. Image via Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
Domínguez’s legacy in the area extends beyond these namesakes. Founded in the early 1900s, his company, Eleuterio Domínguez y Cia, introduced livestock and forestry work into the region, resulting in the decimation of the native forest and depletion of the natural resources of the area (Le Bonniec, 2006, p. 553). Since this time, ever-worsening deforestation and fragmentation in the area, where much of the better farmlands were given away to settlers, have resulted in many Mapuche-Lafkenche families being pushed to the borders of the lake in small plots around the Budi which are now eroded and vulnerable to climate change (Guzman and Krell, 2020b).
Budi is a coastal wetland designated as the nation’s top Regional Conservation Priority Site since 2002 due to threats to its high biodiversity and endemism (SIMBIO, 1994). Yet, in 2024, it still lacks state-led conservation and restoration measures (Guzman and Krell, 2021). In addition, close to 50 percent of families survive in conditions of socioeconomic vulnerability and with limited access to education, health, and financial services, with most engaged in subsistence agriculture and temporary work, leading to significant emigration in search of employment (Sandoval Santibáñez, 2009).
Nevertheless, in the Lake Budi communities, there is a deliberate focus on challenging this colonial violence through revitalizing Mapuche ways of being such as through Mapuche agriculture. This emphasis reflects a conscious choice to shift away from participating in globalized, agri-industrial economic systems which often involve cash crops and temporary or transmigrant work on industrial farms for fresh fruit export. Instead, the communities are redirecting their efforts towards preserving, innovating, and revitalizing ancestral practices deeply rooted in their cultural heritage.
Up until now, Indigenous knowledge of local flora and fauna has long been undervalued in Chile, as around the globe. This is evident in the historical marginalization of Indigenous voices in environmental conservation efforts and the tendency to prioritize Western scientific approaches over traditional ecological knowledge.
This disregard for Indigenous perspectives has led to the depletion of natural resources and the degradation of ecosystems that are vital for Indigenous communities’ livelihoods and cultural practices. The shift towards agri-industrial systems, which began in the 1960s but intensified significantly in the 1990s, has jeopardized the sustainability and resilience of Mapuche livelihoods, cultural practices, and methods of sustainable resource management in the Lake Budi region. However, despite continuing to face such challenges, the Mapuche-Lafkenche community of Lake Budi has demonstrated resilience and adaptability. Efforts are underway to restore the land and safeguard livelihoods.
Since 2013, the communities have been exploring the role of mutual support as part of a multidimensional economic approach to restoring the land heritage of Lake Budi. The Mapuche economic-financial tool, based on mutual aid, known as kelluwún, represents the principle that underpins various practices inherent to contemporary Mapuche society, which characterize the Mapuche economy (Guzman & Krell, 2014). Mutual savings refers to a collaborative approach to saving money or resources within a community.
Revitalization and resuming ancestral ways of being and doing economy is possible by implementing tools of mutual savings and exchange of seeds and other non-monetary cultural assets. Instead of individuals saving independently, community members pool their resources in a collective savings system. In this system, participants contribute a portion of their income or resources regularly into a shared fund managed collectively by the community.
What is unique about the tool is that, in addition to monetary assets, the system facilitates non-monetary asset exchange among community members. These non-monetary assets can encompass various resources including agricultural produce, seeds, handicrafts, traditional knowledge, and labor. Community members can trade goods and services based on mutual needs and preferences through this exchange system without relying solely on cash transactions. In this way, the kelluwún system promotes cultural preservation and economic resilience by facilitating the trading of diverse community resources and by fostering mutual support and self-sufficiency within the community.
In our archivist research collective, the process of co-design has been essential. We’ve focused on developing long-term projections and prioritizing the restoration of the lake’s health, primarily through reforestation of native plants — in recognition the lake’s pivotal role in fostering economic alternatives for environmental restoration while the community leverages technological tools. Furthermore, the establishment of a tree nursery network, Asociacion Ambiental Budi Anumka, has been instrumental in these efforts to safeguard livelihoods and the territory’s biocultural heritage. Developing a software archive has emerged as a crucial component of these initiatives, facilitating the documentation and preservation of Indigenous knowledge related to cultural stewardship and environmental restoration.
The archive is managed by the communities involved and contains over 50 plant seeds and stories. The archive developed through the project includes a similar approach to that initiated by the Pukon communities discussed above. It involved forming a local team and collective design of a collections policy, further enriched by dialogues with traditional leaders, particularly healers possessing profound knowledge of medicinal plants in the territory.
Cultural protocols: the basis for community economies
Both Mapuche-led initiatives discussed emphasize the transmission of intergenerational knowledge as a primary focus for digital archiving work, and privilege cultural leaders’ and environmental custodians’ agency in nurturing community economies.
In the boundless expanse of the Mapuche heritage tapestry, these lakes emerge as heritage sanctuaries, brimming with stories, wisdom and knowledge yet to be harnessed and stewarded. The realms serve as knowledge conduits between time, guiding us on a journey through realms of economic possibility and cultural resonance. Community-led and managed archives provide space for multiple cultural narratives, traditional knowledge, and diverse sets of protocols (such as Local Contexts inspired methodologies), ensuring that the community, across its various components (including age groups, genders and roles), can tell its story (and stories) in their own way, to ensure that they have socio-cultural control of the heritage process.
In both the Mapuche archival initiatives, it is important to note, for the sake of Indigenous Intellectual Property and Indigenous Data Sovereignty, that archiving remains socially self-determined and culturally appropriate, even when using digital technologies. This ranges from developing collection management protocols (for physical and digital aspects) to fully participatory, informed and consensus-driven processes. The details of these protocols consistently adhere to the traditional Mapuche governance norms specific to their territories.
These protocols emerged from extensive community dialogues expressing concerns about privacy and cultural sensitivity. In addition, decision-making protocols were established, acknowledging Traditional Authorities and seeking their guidance.
Where economies of heritage thrive
Colonization and consequently, globalization, has profoundly shaped the dynamics of informal cultural economies in communities surrounding Lake Budi and in the urban environment of Pukon and Lake Mallolafken.
In the dynamic landscape of the 21st century, the intersection of digital cultures and economies of wellbeing reshapes the paradigms of societal prosperity and individual flourishing. It weaves a tapestry of profound significance in a realm where the echoes of ancient lore mingle with the hum of bustling markets, economic heritage, and cultural preservation convergence. Addressing these significant “creative tensions” (Commuity Economies Research Network Latin America, 2021) today requires thoughtful consideration, collaboration, and the development of ethical and inclusive practices for managing economic heritage in the digital age, especially in an Indigenous context.
The lakes emerge as knowledge sanctuaries trespassing across time, where the blueprints for co-creating economies, a saga interwoven with cultural heritage and alternative wisdom, are waiting to be discovered and implemented. By using community-led digital archiving to prioritize appropriate access, intellectual property, authenticity, privacy, and long-term preservation, community heritage remains vibrant and accessible for future generations, contributing to communities’ economic heritage and prosperity.
Alison stands by the window, gazing out over a section of Lake Budi.
