Combining historical and ethnographical data, this paper explores the importance of various levels of opposition in the sport of palin and the social practices that surround it in the Mapuche communities of southern Chile. Using the concept of potential affinity, I seek to analyse the way in which the opposition between identity and difference takes distinct forms - such as those of warfare, ritual and exchange - at different levels of analysis, such as that of the ethnic group, the local group and the person. This multiplicity of oppositions is related to the variety of historical contexts in which palin has been important. Focusing on the relevance of relations of alterity in palin, the article looks to apply to the domain of Indigenous sport the anthropological approach to Amerindian sociality, which has generally been restricted to kinship and myth.
Mapuche; Sport; Alterity; Structure; Chile
