Power as Nurture: The Inkas and Their Tiwanaku Ancestors

Summary

Religion bonded Andean societies across centuries (Moseley 1992; Kolata 1995) and archaeologists request greater focus on religious ideologies to evaluate the Andean past (Kolata 2000; Hastorf 2007)—gaping silence in the scholarship surrounds the so-called "female, spiritual" side of society. From this hurin moiety (Rostworowski 2007; Silverblatt 1987), particulars of an overarching hegemonic strategy of power-as-nurture emerged among the Inkas (and with different details among their Tiwanaku ancestors).

Women and men colleagues from the author’s twelve years living in communities around Puno and La Paz seek to share their perspective of dynamic gender balance and daily reciprocity with spirit—held in oral narratives, ritual practices, and social organization. Imperfect compliance does not negate long-lived, fundamental principles that survived changes over time—which provide more nuanced reasoning than brute force and violent arguments as the sole origins of states.

Inkas origins of Cusco and everyone were honored in paqarina pilgrimage sites that organized the empire; local/regional domination revolved around Copacabana, Pachakamaq, and Cusco’s Qurikancha. Nurture for subjects emphasized maize production and storage. Spiritual authority that tended many emanated from Cusco and Titiqaqa, Inka and Quya. Together, these hurin features characterized much of Inka fame besides colorful warriors and golden statues.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21542