Invaders As Ancestors : On the Intercultural Making and Unmaking of Spanish Colonialism in the Andes

__Invaders as Ancestors__ examines how the unique practices involved in Andean ancestor-worship first facilitated Spanish colonization and eventually undid the colonial project.

Since pre-Incan times, native Andean people had worshipped their ancestors, and the custom continued even after the arrival of the Spaniards in the sixteenth century. Ancestor-worship however, did not exclude members of other cultures: in fact, the Andeans welcomed outsiders as ancestors. Invaders as Ancestors examines how this unique cultural practice first facilitated Spanish colonization and eventually undid the colonial project when the Spanish attacked ancestor worship as idolatry and Andeans adopted Spanish political and religious forms to challenge indigenous rulers.

In this work, Peter Gose demonstrates the ways in which Andeans converted conquest confrontations into relations of kinship and obligation and then worshipped Christianized and racially "white" spirits after the Spaniards invaded, though the conquering Spaniards prevented actual kinship bonds with the Andeans by adhering to strict rules of racial separation. Invaders as Ancestors explores an alternative response to colonization beyond the predictable resistance narrative, presenting instead a creative form of transculturation under the agency of the Andeans. Invaders as Ancestors is a fascinating account of one of the most unusual transcultural encounters in the history of colonialism.

"In this work, Peter Gose demonstrates the ways in which Andeans converted conquests into relations of kinship and obligation. They worshipped Christianized and racially 'white' spirits after the Spaniards invaded, though the conquering Spaniards prevented actual kinship bonds with the Andeans by adhering to strict rules of racial separation. Gose goes beyond the usual colonial resistance narratives, describing instead a creative form of transculturation under the agency of the Andeans. Invaders as Ancestors is a fascinating account of one of the most unusual transcultural encounters in the history of colonialism."--Jacket Contents 7 Illustrations 11 Acknowledgments 13 Note on Orthography 17 1. Introduction 19 2. Viracochas: Ancestors, Deities, and Apostles 54 3. Diseases and Separatism 99 4. Reducción and the Struggle over B 136 5. Strategies of Coexistence 179 6. Ayllus in Transition 225 7. The Rise of the Mountain Spirits 257 8. Ancestral Reconfigurations in the Ethnographic Record 300 Conclusion 339 Notes 349 Bibliography 367 Index 387