People of the volcano : Andean counterpoint in the Colca Valley of Peru

Annotation While it now attracts many tourists, the Colca Valley of Perus southern Andes was largely isolated from the outside world until the 1970s, when a passable road was built linking the valleyand its colonial churches, terraced hillsides, and deep canyonto the city of Arequipa and its airport, eight hours away. Noble David Cook and his co-researcher Alexandra Parma Cook have been studying the Colca Valley since 1974, and this detailed ethnohistory reflects their decades-long engagement with the valley, its history, and its people. Drawing on unusually rich surviving documentary evidence, they explore the cultural transformations experienced by the first three generations of Indians and Europeans in the region following the Spanish conquest of the Incas. Social structures, the domestic export and economies, and spiritual spheres within native Andean communities are key elements of analysis. Also highlighted is the persistence of duality in the Andean world: perceived dichotomies such as those between the coast and the highlands, Europeans and Indo-Peruvians. Even before the conquest, the Cabana and Collagua communities sharing the Colca Valley were divided according to kinship and location. The Incas, and then the Spanish, capitalized on these divisions, incorporating them into their state structure in order to administer the area more effectively, but Colca Valley peoples resisted total assimilation into either. Colca Valley communities have shown a remarkable tenacity in retaining their social, economic, and cultural practices while accommodating various assimilationist efforts over the centuries. Todays population maintains similarities with their ancestors of more than five hundred years agoin language, agricultural practices, daily rituals, familial relationships, and practices of reciprocity. They also retain links to ecological phenomena, including the volcanoes from which they believe they emerged and continue to venerate. Contents 8 Illustrations and Tables 10 Preface 12 Part I. Foundations 18 One. Beneath the Soaring Condor 20 Two. Return of the Viracocha 46 Three. Crisis of the New Order 68 Part II. The “República de los Indios” 94 Four. Constructing an ‘‘Andean Utopia’’ 96 Five. ‘‘República de los Indios’’: Social and Political Structure 122 Six. Tribute and the Domestic Economy 148 Seven. Extractive Economy 172 Eight. Indoctrination and Resistance 198 Part III. The “República de los Españoles” 230 Nine. Crisis in the ‘‘República de los Españoles’’ 232 Epilogue: Andean Counterpoint 260 Notes 278 Bibliography 302 Index 328 Beneath The Soaring Condor -- Return Of The Viracocha -- Crisis Of The New Order -- Constructing An Andean Utopia -- República De Los Indios : Social And Political Structure -- Tribute And The Domestic Economy -- Extractive Economy -- Indoctrination And Resistance -- Crisis In The República De Los Españoles -- Epilogue: Andean Counterpoint. Noble David Cook, With Alexandra Parma Cook. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [285]-309) And Index. First full-length history of the Colca Valley in southern Peru from pre-Hispanic times to the present.