Pathways of Memory and Power: Ethnography and History Among an Andean PeoplePathways of Memory and Power crosses the disciplinary boundary where anthropology and history meet, exploring the cultural frontier of the colonial and postcolonial Andes. Thomas A. Abercrombie uses his fieldwork in the Aymara community of Santa Barbara de Culta, Bolivia, as a starting point for his ambitious examination of the relations between European forms of historical consciousness and indigenous Andean ways of understanding the past. Writing in an inviting first-person narrative style, Abercrombie confronts the ethics of fieldwork by comparing ethnographic experience to the power-laden contexts that produce historical sources. Making clear the early and deep intermingling of practices and world views among Spaniards and Andeans, Christians and non-Christians, Abercrombie critiques both the romanticist tendency to regard Andean culture as still separate from and resistant to European influences, and the melodramatic view that all indigenous practices have been obliterated by colonial and national elites. He challenges prejudices that, from colonial days to the present, have seen Andean historical knowledge only in mythic narratives or narratives of personal experience. Bringing an ethnographer’s approach to historiography, he shows how complex Andean rituals that hybridize European and indigenous traditions—such as libation dedications and llama sacrifices held on saints’ day festivals—are in fact potent evidence of social memory in the community. |
Contents
From Ritual to History and Back Again | 3 |
Introduction | 27 |
The Dialogical Politics of Ethnographic Fieldwork | 52 |
Copyright | |
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alcaldes altar ancestors Andean animals archives Asanaqi Aullagas authorities ayllus Aymara Bárbara de Culta Bartolomé Bolivian caciques called cantón carried Castilian ceque ch'allas Challapata Charcas chicha Christian Chullpas church cloth coca colonial Colque Guarache Condo corral corregidor Cruce cultural Cusco deities diarchy dicho documents drinking encomienda ethnographic festival fiesta forms gods groups hamlet herd Inca indians indigenous indios jilaqata Juan Colque K'ulta k"ari Killaka labor land libations llama llantiru mallku Mamani mayordomo misa mita moiety mountain narrative native lords Oruro Pachacuti past path patio patriline Pedro performed Perú pilgrimage Pizarro plaza Potosí practices pre-Columbian priest probanza provincia pueblo qarwa Quechua Quillacas quipu Qullasuyu reducción repartimiento rites ritual sacrifice saints Santa Bárbara señor sequence social memory Spaniards Spanish sponsors t'aki taqui Tata Tatala territory tinku Toledo Tomás town council tribute Tunupa uywa ispira uywiri vecinos Vila Sirka Viracocha visits wak'as yatiri yndios