How do people connect to the environment of Patagonia? As I discussed in my environment field note, Patagonia is a huge region with many different ecosystems. The ways in which people connect to the lands depend on the specific region of Patagonia in which they live. The native people of Patagonia include the Mapuche, Gününa Küna, Aionikenk and Selk’nam. In my research, I am working the most with Mapuche people, so I will focus on that community in this article.
You can tell how important the land and the environment are for Mapuche people just from their name. Mapu means "land" or "territory" in the native Mapuzugun language, and che means "people". So Mapuche can be translated as “people of the land.” Within the broad category of Mapuche, segments of these people identify themselves by the characteristic features of their particular region of Patagonia. Examples include the Lafkenche, or "sea people", and the Pehuenche, "pine people".The name of the native Mapuche language, Mapuzugun, also emphasizes the connection to the landscape. This word can be translated as “speech/language of the land.”
