Coping with stress: dream interpretation in the Mapuche family.

Dreams are shared and interpreted daily within the family unit among the Mapuche Indians of Chile. This anthropological study examines the communicative aspect of dream sharing and interpreting among Mapuche families undergoing emotional and physical stress. Specifically, it investigates the ways in which the Mapuche dream interpretation system provides the family members with another means of interaction and a way of solving their problems. It also examines how individuals influence their attitudes towards one another by communally participating in the dream interpretation process, and in its narrative performance. The data used in this research consists of dreams and of their interpretations, collected in the natural setting, from two families with members suffering of witchcraft, and fear of death. This information was collected over a period of 17 months from October 1985 to March 1987 with a Fulbright-Hayes Doctoral Dissertation Grant.