Yellow Butterflies, Whirlwinds and Birds: Learning to Listen Otherwise as a Way of Being and Thinking Decolonially in Archaeology

This article explores ‘learning to listen otherwise’ as a decolonial practice in archaeology, grounded in the author’s long-term engagement with Indigenous Rankülche people of central Argentina. It examines events and manifestations (actants) that emerged during a reburial ceremony of Rankülche ancestors. Using a theatrical metaphor—prelude, movements and acts—the text foregrounds ‘being there’, emphasising walking and listening as embodied, affective and epistemic practices. The first movement, ‘Learning to Listen’, engages with Indigenous ways of sensing and knowing; the second, ‘Actant Cosmographies’, highlights how humans, animals, spirits and energies co-create the world; and the third, ‘Listening Otherwise’, attunes to native language, entities and memories beyond conventional listening. Act One recounts the ceremony, emphasising the ontological unity of ancestors, bodies and territories; Act Two, ‘Expanding the Senses’, narrates ancestral signs through butterflies, whirlwinds and birds. The coda advocates a decolonial writing practice that cultivates emotional connection and openness to being affected.