Abstract

The conception of a lake as a body of water surrounded by land is part of a western native imaginary mounted on analytical schemes that become functional to a territorial occupation. The Andean Mapuche communities give the possibility of understanding in another way the linkages between the water and the other components of the landscape, as revealed through the fieldwork. A relational ontology that loses its strength in urban and labor contexts makes possible that relationship. Of the relational character of this ontology, they give account, on the one hand, to the ritual practices (guillatun) and, on the other, the marriage between history and territory such as topo and hydronymy suggest it The practice of living the lake contradicts the inert western vision, allowing to explore the multiple agencies that determine the possibilities of present and future existence. The traces and practices of indigenous communities are suggestive of alternative ways of constituting life in contexts impoverished by the predatory action of capital.