Los Selk´´'nam. Vida, mitos, ritos y muerte en un pueblo del «fin del mundo»

Abstract

The study of the mythology and the most representative rituals of a native group,of the Tierra del Fuego island, the selk'nam, are a form to apprehend the symbol set and representations that formed their symbolic universe. With the intention to also surpass the vision so common of the “Anthropology of the Illustration” going beyond the perspective that contributes the levistraussian anthropology, the approach that here is tried to unfold consists in seeing mythology like creator of a space of integration and formation of collective identities. The apprehension of the natural and social scope that surrounded them. allowed selk 'nam to establish a rigid system of guidelines, that would have helped by long centuries to maintain the cohesion of this social group, put under to the extraordinary pressures of its habitat.