week2—conflicts, material dimensions, and a late blog—
Just as a precursor, I’ve been trying to do the readings in a very weird and sickly state, so I feel I didn’t grasp them all. In all honesty, it was not enjoyable. I didn’t quite understand most of the readings from the Peru Reader, though I did find some bits enjoyable. As a forewarning, I do not think this blog will be one of my best.
The readings that stuck with me were ‘Priests, Indians, Soldiers, and Heroes’, the first bits of ‘Cloth, Textile, and the Inca Empire’, ‘The Tragedy of Success’, and ‘The Pongo’s Dream’. ‘The Search for Machu Picchu’ was an interesting read, but it did not necessarily captivate my attention in too many worthwhile ways. The imagery was, of course, beautiful, but aside from that I didn’t quite see the purpose in reading it—perhaps someone else will enlighten me on this.
I thought it was interesting that clothing or uniform could carry different energies and authorities to whomever was wearing them. I think ‘Priests, Indians, Soldiers, and Heroes’ and ‘Cloth, Textile, and the Inca Empire’ was an interesting read, especially reading them back-to-back. I found it captivating that the material dimension has many different avenues into affecting the spiritual dimensions, both naturally through the origins/rarity/uses of certain resources (wool, cotton, etc.) and somewhat artificially through something like military kit. In the Tragedy of Success, I think this power of clothing is also mentioned, as some of the wealthy Indians chose to dress themselves in fancier, more expensive clothing in order to become Hispanicised.
The process of being/becoming Hispanicised was most fascinating to me. Whether it be through mixed marriages, adoption of clothing/fashion, speaking the language, or religion—all of these avenues possess gray areas of benefit as well as disadvantage; perhaps the blurred outcomes of settler-colonization. In order to benefit from the system that offers both expansive wealth and extreme poverty, one must be very, very lucky and in the perfect combination of socio-economic conditions. In other words, if a person is one of the few that becomes a ‘wealthy Indian’ whom benefits from the system, that person often ends up fucking most other people over. A step towards whiteness (wealth, stability, private ownership) means a step away from Indigeneity. This is perhaps similar to Jon’s class on ‘the real’ and the paradox of ‘representation’, particularly Indigenous representation.
I still don’t know quite how I feel about all of it. While attempting to become closer to whiteness has been a problem I’ve faced in my own life, it has never had a direct outcome on my socio-economic status or livelihood. The ‘loss of culture’, to put it bluntly, is exchanged for wealth, influence, and stability. This tension perhaps leads to aggravation and conflict directed against the Indian women who marry Spaniards.
One reply on “week2—conflicts, material dimensions, and a late blog—”
“…perhaps the blurred outcomes of settler-colonization…” The interesting thing, it seems to me, is to see the great difference that exists between colonialism and what happened in Latin America. Just as there were indigenous people who sought to whiten themselves, there were many Spaniards who did not hesitate to marry members of the Andean, Mayan or Mesoamerican nobility, and their titles were recognized in Europe as royalty. These people retained their power, land and wealth (as long as they continued to recognize the authority of the Hispanic Monarch).