La minoría insurgente: Secuelas de las madres guerreras en La Araucana

Abstract

From the “Prologue” to the first part of La Aracuana, women are doubly generative for the Araucanian insurgency since they not only give birth to and raise future warriors, but also join their ranks in a pregnant state. In conversation with feminist thinkers and historians of childhood, I propose that the Araucanian warrior mothers not only serve to indicate Indigenous alterity, but also reveal the Araucanian problem experienced on the battlefield that Ercilla attempted to address with innovations of epic tropes throughout the three parts of La Araucana.  On the literary field, the characters of Guacolda, Lauca, and Fresia wield a model for eradicating the insurgent minority through pacification and birth control.