Climate and Cultural Memory: The Selknam of Tierra del Fuego
The Selknam and the Haush of Tierra del Fuego are the only terrestrial nomadic groups living on an island in the Americas. It seems that they were living there for millennia. If so, they faced and survived significant environmental changes during the Holocene including the opening of the strait of Magellan, volcanic eruptions and rise and descent of sea levels. They lived in proximity to other maritime and terrestrial foraging peoples, with them they interchanged products and people, until the arrival of European ways of life that condemned them to vanishing at last. How they thrived in a challenging environment, what worldviews and technologies led to their disappearance, and contemporary efforts to promote their cultural memory will be the focus of this talk.
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Speaker Bio
Dr. Alfredo Prieto Iglesias, archaeologist and researcher at the Universidad de Magallanes in southern Chile, is perhaps the most knowledgeable person today about the cultural ecology and histories of the peoples of Tierra del Fuego. Dr. Prieto works to bring to life the sophisticated technological and social worlds of groups who were decimated by European settlers and their racist worldviews. He works closely with conservation and parks groups to ensure protection of environments as well as holistic education about how they have been homeland to nomadic and canoe-going peoples for millennia.