Experiencing Inka domination: The case of the Northern Calchaquí Valley (Argentina).

F. ACUTO, C. JABOB, M. SPROVIERI, C., L. LUNA Y C. ARANDA

Pittsburgh, Esatados Unidos

Congreso; 21st Annual Northeast Conference on Andean Archaeology and Ethnohistory; 2002

University of Pittsburgh

Félix A. Acuto, Cristian Jacob, Marina Sprovieri, Claudia Aranda and Leandro Luna This paper explores the process of domination that took place in the North Calchaquí Valley, Argentina, when the Inkas conquered the region. We are interested in the symbolic and ideological aspects of this domination; that is to say, how the Inkas managed to communicate and legitimized their cosmology and the new order of things to the subject populations. In this way, we explore the policies and strategies the Inkas developed to impact on local communities´ social structure. Specifically, we analyze how Inka centers were designed to offer local people a novel experience of social space, in which noticeable differences in hierarchy and access to resources, power, and knowledge between Inkas and non-Inkas were asserted. In the same vein, we explain how the Inkas promoted the emergence of a new type of powerful local agent, who did not have previous antecedents, and how as a consequence of this, vernacular notions of agency were modified.