Our trip to Amaru was, according to Jon, the most important and culturally significant day of the trip. I feel like in retrospect, this claim was dubious, but that is neither here or nor there. At the beginning of this course back in Lima, Jon told us that we may come out of this course knowing less about indigeneity in the Andes than we knew going into it. I’m gonna be real, I had noooo idea what this was supposed to mean, no idea at all, not an inkling. However, after this recent trip to Amaru….I think I get what he meant. 

It’s been several days and I have mixed feelings about this daytrip as far as it being a cultural experience goes. I’ve been thinking about how a local community, like the one we visited, can appeal to tourists while also avoiding misrepresenting their community. These Misrepresentations come from a desire to present what is palatable and marketable to tourists, rather than what may be more difficult to understand, or less “beautiful” perhaps. Moreover, I feel that communities like Amaru might feel compelled to primarily showcase those aspects of their culture that align with preconceived notions of Andean indigeneity. As a consequence, “cultural experiences” are effectively presenting a time capsule view of their society, one that puts great emphasis on traditional practices while more or less ignoring contemporary realities or modern challenges faced by the community. We only got to see a tiny, set-up corner of the community when there was clearly so much more going on beyond that.  In a perfect world The knowledge that tourists like us gain about Indigenous cultures would be rooted in epistemological integrity, presenting cultures in their full complexity, acknowledging both their traditional aspects and their contemporary realities. Still, of course this isn’t a fully realistic expectation as Indigenous communities ought to have full autonomy over how their culture is presented to tourists, including having the agency to decide what aspects of their culture to share, how to share them, and under what conditions, thus respecting their sovereignty and promoting ethical tourism.   

I would say the trip was a net positive experience overall, however I cannot help but I feel like I still know very very little of this community in particular. Instead, I experienced an overview of traditional regional practices, which is still lovely, but I would have liked to hear more about the community itself.