Duality (and maybe syncretism?) in Deep Rivers

This is as much a response to Arguedas’ novel as it is a response to Jon’s fantastic video essay, which offered helpful and important insights that furthered my interpretations of that rather puzzling, but beautiful, book. Duality,  apparently, is an infinitely important concept for understanding not only the indigenous story of Peru but the (post?) colonial nation-state it has become since conquest as well. We saw duality in how contemporary Peruvians frame Los Senderos (‘terucos’ vs. ‘freedom fighter’), the worldviews of countless indigenous societies (the ceramics at the Larco), and now in Deep Rivers; a novel that offers up many examples of the clashing, divided nature that characterizes colonial Peru (As Jon noted, Indigenous vs. Western). Evidently, Peru has been (and still is) having an identity crisis. Deep Rivers feels like a way of coping with this conflict; the plethora of nods to the dual aspect of Peruvian society contrasted against the descriptive, beautiful prose of Arguedas, at least to me, felt like a way of framing this predicament in a better light. Of course, Arguedas’ eventual suicide because of his perceived inability to solve the duality problem goes against my interpretation of it. Yet, I’m still choosing to look at it as such. As I pointed out in my last blog post (I love making references to myself!!), I have been thinking a lot about how indigeneity can be protected in this current era. I didn’t really have an answer, but I did hint that I think a complete removal of ‘Western-ism’ might be necessary. Deep Rivers, however, offered what I think was a very different idea; that Peru’s duality can be beautiful and is instead best understood as syncretism? That could be a big reach. Further, I don’t know if I can truly believe in the goodness of a syncretic Peru, given what one aspect of that syncretism (colonialism) has meant for the other (the indigenous). On the other hand, believing in its goodness is different than seeing it as the only feasible option, bar some fantastic shift of geopolitical power. Jon mentioned earlier how Corpus Christi here in Cusco is considered (by the Church) to be true Catholicism “with an Andean face” rather than a centuries-old mixture of indigenous and Hispanic beliefs. What I wonder is that if it were acknowledged as a mixture (which it absolutely is), what good what it do the indigenous Andeans? That also seems to be a bit of a simple question posed to a much more complex problem and one that is certainly best responded to by an indigenous Andean, so I’m not really sure why I’m posing it here. But (lol) what do you guys think?!