Dr. Luis E. Cárcamo-Huechante, President of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA) and Associate Professor at The University of Texas at Austin, will present “Acoustic Colonialism: Acts and Arts of Mapuche Interference,” a talk based on his newly published book Acoustic Colonialism: Acts of Mapuche Interference (Duke University Press, 2025).

The talk explores the key theoretical, methodological, and historical concepts that underlie the book, including what the author calls “acoustic colonialism,” “the colonial ear,” and “Indigenous interference.” These ideas resonate throughout the book’s chapters on colonialism, indigeneity, media, sound, and land relations, which Cárcamo-Huechante examines in the context of Ngulu Mapu, what is today known as central and southern Chile, part of the broader Mapuche territory (Wallmapu).

Cárcamo-Huechante is a scholar who belongs to the Mapuche people and is a founding member of the Comunidad de Historia Mapuche, a collective of engaged Mapuche researchers based in southern Chile. In 2007, he published Tramas del mercado: imaginación económica, cultura pública y literatura en el Chile de fines del siglo veinte (Santiago: Editorial Cuarto Propio). His most recent book, Acoustic Colonialism: Acts of Mapuche Interference, was published by Duke University Press in 2025.

Sponsored by the Hispanic Studies Department and cosponsored by the American Studies Program, the Environmental Studies Program, and the Political Science Department.

The lecture is free and open to the public.