Introduction to the Dossier: “When I grow up”: some derivations of Martha Bechis’ work

Abstract

Martha Bechis's work was prolific and drew from diverse theoretical frameworks -catastrophe theory, chaos theory, discontinuous change theory, and play and drama theory, cybernetics, discourse analysis, and state formations- and she constantly reflected on the ethnohistory of Pan-Araucanía. Her centrality in the disciplinary field transcended her theoretical, historical, and analytical contributions, as she had the gift of writing with simplicity, making complex notions or concepts easy to understand. Her work is often an inexhaustible source of ideas. It is also worth highlighting another aspect that we consider fundamental to the growth of the disciplinary field of which she was a pioneer: her enormous generosity, as she dedicated a good part of her time, patience, and kindness to training the disciples who today make up this field. This is the motivation for preparing and publishing this dossier.