Material translations around the gualato: Routes of a tool that became a forged piece in southern Chile

Abstract

This article offers a historical and ethnographic review of the material translation processes shaping the gualato, an agricultural and harvesting implement still in use throughout southern Chile and incorporated into local blacksmithing practices as a hybrid tool. The study unfolds in two stages. First, we examine historical and material documentation to investigate the sociotechnical factors that drove the tool’s early transformations from the late nineteenth century onward—among them, the introduction of iron, the proliferation of smithies, and the adoption of new production technologies. These elements are analyzed through a multisited lens to understand the phenomenon’s complexity. In the second stage, we turn to contemporary dynamics of gualato construction and use, exploring its morphological variations, inscriptions, and patterns of distribution as part of an integrated network of actants. Drawing on prolonged ethnographic fieldwork, we delve into the relationships that underlie current material translations of the object, highlighting the tool’s enduring versatility across Valdivia and Chiloé.