Yeyipun at the Ethnological Museum in Berlin. Spiritual Accompaniment as a Form of Restitution and Healing of the Ancestral Past

Abstract

In debates on museum restitution, this ethnographic essay examines spiritual accompaniment as an Indigenous form of restitution. It reflects on a Mapuche family’s 2025 visit to the Mapuche collection at the Ethnological Museum in Berlin, accompanying the memory garments held there. The essay shows how restitution exceeds legal frameworks, involving spiritual, communal, and territorial processes aimed at healing colonial violence, while also reopening wounds in Mapuche collective memory.

Key words: spiritual accompaniment, restitution, Mapuche, colonial museum