Intersubjectivity in Inka Visual Culture

Summary

The Inka of western South America, who reached the height of their power in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, identified certain rocks as sharing many characteristics with human beings. Such rocks were sentient and some of them had the ability to speak and move. Some rocks were said to eat and drink the foods and liquids humans eat and drink, dress in human clothing, and speak Runasimi, the language spoken by the Inka. The Inka, in recognizing the sentience of certain rocks, practiced intersubjectivity. Their intersubjectivity, in turn, requires modern interpreters of Inka visual culture to re-think traditional art historical dichotomies such as subjects and objects.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Andean Ontologies: New Perspectives from Archaeology, Ethnohistory and Bioarchaeology

Keywords

Spatial Coverage