The part that I found most interesting this week was part 8, the section on Andean society under Spanish rule. In this section especially, I found myself trying to form an opinion on what parts of his views I agreed with, and I struggled to do so. Eventually, the interpretation of this part that I settled on was that of an analogy to certain conversations about Indigenous politics today. In this part of the book, Guaman Poma talks at length about atrocities committed against Indigenous people in the Andes. Although he is defending Indigenous peoples and their right to act on their own without Spanish oversight, he does so with the reasoning that any good qualities they have are due to their Christianity. Even before Spanish colonization, he argues, societal law and order was due to Christian customs. This was a confusing claim to me; I was not sure if Guaman Poma was trying to argue that they had been Christian all along, which seems implausible, or that their values pre-colonization aligned with Christian ones. In any case, these previous good qualities being labeled as Christian ones is how Guaman Poma argues that self-rule is the right choice. He goes even further to say that the Spanish have been a bad influence, corrupting local populations with their greed and un-Christian-like values. The reason that Indigenous groups have any bad practices that they might have now is not because they are inherently inferior, but because they learned them from the Spanish.
Initially, I struggled to understand where Guaman Poma’s perspective might fall on a spectrum of genuine defense of Indigenous people and siding with the Spanish. The analogy that came to mind for me was the way that people often talk about Indigenous peoples today only in the context of colonization. I remember this bit being discussed in class a few weeks earlier, and it struck me as applicable. The way Guaman Poma always refers to the “poor Indians,” and talks about them as if they have no agency or are not on his level, to me seemed reminiscent of some discussions of Indigenous rights today. It made it clearer for me why this way of thinking can be so problematic. Although the issues that Guaman Poma is trying to fight for are intended to be in defense of Indigenous rights, his tactics ultimately tie back to a colonial framework and structure. Because of this, he seems to be reinforcing harmful stereotypes in many ways. While this book is perhaps a more extreme example than a lot of the political discussions we see today, the perspective still seemed applicable to me. When we talk about Indigenous groups only with respect to colonization and oppression, we miss so much about them, and also oftentimes end up enhancing the structures of control that we intend to break down.
I really like your point and completely agree that Guaman Poma justifies his defense of the indigenous peoples by attributing their good qualities to Christianity, but then contradicts this by saying the Incas were committing sins because of the Spanish; I also found this confusing because when reading this text I associated the Spaniards and Christians as one in the same. Although his points/views are confusing, I think that they can be really interesting to analyze, because he kind of offers numerous different perspectives, just from the perspective of one man!
I totally agree with how you say that Guaman Poma’s portrayal of Indigenous peoples is comparable to the idea of talking about Indigenous peoples only within the context of colonization today. Not only do we miss so much about them, but its also a strange position for Guaman Poma to argue from, considering that he advocates for the independent sovereignty of Indigenous peoples. Perhaps it is because of his writing being addressed to the Spanish king that he does this, but I think it is just as plausible that he simply does not have the words (or maybe the translation lacks it) to describe the culture as something disconnected from the colonist ways of Christianity that he knows, growing up both ‘Indigenous’ and Christian.
I did not think about how Guaman Poma’s writing about the Inca were similar to how indigenous rights are discussed today but you make a good point. As you said both are structured in colonial ways and the lens is very colonial. Both indigenous peoples today and the ancient Inca are looked at as needing someone else to intervene and save them. Also to help them there are attempts to make them more like the colonizers to fit in to colonial society instead of focusing on the problems caused by colonization.
I like how you discussed Guaman Poma’s attempt to portray a positive image of the Indigenous to the king. Explaining in his eyes useful attributes as the Christianity within them could possibly have been a strategy to sway the King in favour of reconstructing the logistics of Spaniard rule. From his perspective, could he have possibly told a more compelling chronicle by portraying the Indigenous without Christian values? It is hard to tell if that would have been a more optimal choice with the way the world was at the time. However, i agree it is problematic to speak of great character while trying to reinforce that they are inferior.