Death and Conversion in the Andes

Gabriela Ramos

Description

When the Spanish invaded the Inca empire in 1532, the cult of the ancestors was an essential feature of pre-Columbian religion throughout the Andes. The dead influenced politics, protected the living, symbolized the past, and legitimized claims over the land their descendants occupied, while the living honored the presence of the dead in numerous aspects of daily life. A central purpose of the Spanish missionary endeavor was to suppress the Andean cult of the ancestors and force the indigenous people to adopt their Catholic, legal, and cultural views concerning death. In her book, Gabriela Ramos reveals the extent to which Christianizing death was essential for the conversion of the indigenous population to Catholicism.

Ramos argues that understanding the relation between death and conversion in the Andes involves not only considering the obvious attempts to destroy the cult of the dead, but also investigating a range of policies and strategies whose application demanded continuous negotiation between Spaniards and Andeans. Drawing from historical, archaeological, and anthropological research and a wealth of original archival materials, especially the last wills and testaments of indigenous Andeans, Ramos looks at the Christianization of death as it affected the lives of inhabitants of two principal cities of the Peruvian viceroyalty: Lima, the new capital founded on the Pacific coast by the Spanish, and Cuzco, the old capital of the Incas in the Andean highlands. Her study of the wills in particular demonstrates the strategies that Andeans devised to submit to Spanish law and Christian doctrine, preserve bonds of kinship, and cement their place in colonial society.

Sujets

• Economic Policy
• Public Policy
• Political Ideologies
• HISTORY
• POLITICAL SCIENCE
• Histoire
• América del Sur
• Spanish people
• History of Latin America
• General officer
• Cusco
• South America
• Latin America
• General
• Democracy
• Cuzco
• Lima

Informations

• Publié par: University of Notre Dame Press
• Date de parution: 30 avril 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780268091729
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

R AMOS
DeathandConversion in the Andes
History, Languages, and Cultures of the Spanish and Portuguese Worlds
Sabine MacCormack, Series Editor
DeathandConversion in the AndesDeathandConversion in the AndesLima
Lima and Cuzco, 1532–1670 Lima and Cuzco, 1532–1670
GABRIELA R AMOS
“Rapid and widespread death decimated the descendants of the Inca Empire, but the
mere number of the dead does not tell the story. Rather, Ramos brilliantly
demonstrates that, beginning with the execution of Atahualpa, death and the dead were
one of the great colonial sites of ongoing contestation about both the here and now
and the hereafter. In an exquisitely researched study, Ramos traces the shift from
pre-Columbian to colonial Andean funerary rituals and the differing ways that they
became the center of how ‘Andeans and Europeans communicated and exchanged
their visions of power and the sacred,’ in a true dance of death.”
—THOMAS B. F. CUMMINS, HARVARD UNIVERSITY
“Death and Conversion in the Andes is a highly innovative study that looks at the
conquest period in a new light. By analyzing how the conception of death and
death rituals changed during the early colonial period, Gabriela Ramos is able to
gain many new insights into how the conquest modifed indigenous beliefs. For
those interested in ethnohistory and the effects of colonialism in Spanish America,
this is a must read.” —ERICK D. LANGER, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
Drawing on historical, archaeological, and anthropological research and a wealth
of original archival materials, especially the last wills and testaments of indigenous
Andeans, Ramos looks at the Christianization of death as it affected the lives of
inhabitants of two principal cities of the Peruvian viceroyalty: Lima, the new
capital founded on the Pacifc coast by the Spanish, and Cuzco, the old capital of the
Incas in the Andean highlands. Her study of the wills in particular demonstrates the
strategies that Andeans devised to submit to Spanish law and Christian doctrine,
preserve bonds of kinship, and cement their place in colonial society.
GABRIELA RAMOS is University Lecturer in Latin American History, University of
Cambridge.
University of Notre Dame Press
Notre Dame, IN 46556
undpress.nd.edu
Cover photo: Prayers at a churchyard shrine below wall
of the ancient Inca prince’s fortress. Underwood and
Underwood Glass Stereograph Collection. Archives
Center, National Museum of American History, Behring GABRIELA R AMOS
Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Cover design: MichieluttiDESIGN
Ramosƒ.indd 1 3/19/10 1:41 PM00ramos front:Death and Conversion in the Andes 3/8/10 10:10 AM Page i
Death
and
Conversion
in the
Andes00ramos front:Death and Conversion in the Andes 3/8/10 10:10 AM Page ii
History, Languages, and Cultures
of the Spanish and Portuguese Worlds
This interdisciplinary series promotes scholarship in studies on Iberian cultures
and contacts from the premodern and early modern periods.
S E R I E S EDITOR
Sabine MacCormack, Theodore M. Hesburgh Professor of Arts and Letters, Departments of
Classics and History, University of Notre Dame
S E R I E S BOARD
J.N. Hillgarth, emeritus, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies
Peggy K. Liss, Independent Scholar
David Nirenberg, University of Chicago
Adeline Rucquoi, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
R E C E N T TITLES IN THE SERIES
The Jesuit and the Incas: The Extraordinary Life of Padre Blas Valera, S.J. (2003)
• Sabine Hyland
Upholding Justice: Society, State, and the Penal System in Quito (1650–1750) (2004)
• Tamar Herzog
Conflict and Coexistence: Archbishop Rodrigo and the Muslims and Jews of Medieval
Spain (2004)
• Lucy K. Pick
The Origins of Mexican Catholicism: Nahua Rituals and the Christian Sacraments in
Sixteenth-Century Mexico (2004)
• Osvaldo F. Pardo
Missionary Tropics: The Catholic Frontier in India (16th–17th Centuries) (2005)
• Ines G. Županov
Jews, Christian Society, and Royal Power in Medieval Barcelona (2006)
• Ella Klein
How the Incas Built Their Heartland: State Formation and Innovation of Imperial Strategies
in the Sacred Valley, Peru (2006)
• R. Alan Covey
Pastoral Quechua: The History of Christian Translation in Colonial Peru, 1550–1650 (2007)
• Alan Durston
Contested Territory: Mapping Peru in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (2009)
• Heidi V. Scott
Death and Conversion in the Andes: Lima and Cuzco, 1532–1670 (2010)
• Gabriela Ramos00ramos front:Death and Conversion in the Andes 3/8/10 10:10 AM Page iii
Death
and
Conversion
in the Lima and Cuzco,
1532–1670Andes
G A B R I E L A R A M O S
university of notre dame press
notre dame, indiana00ramos front:Death and Conversion in the Andes 10/03/23 11:56 Page iv
Copyright © 2010 by University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
www.undpress.nd.edu
All Rights Reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ramos, Gabriela.
Death and conversion in the Andes : Lima and Cuzco, 1532–1670 /
Gabriela Ramos.
p. cm. — (History, languages, and cultures of the Spanish and
Portuguese worlds)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-268-04028-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-268-04028-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Indians of South America—Peru—Lima—Religion. 2. Indians of
South America—Peru—Lima—Rites and ceremonies. 3. of
South eru—Cuzco—Religion. 4. Indians of South
America—Peru—Cuzco—Rites and ceremonies. 5. Death—Religious
aspects—Christianity. 6. Conversion—Christianity. 7. Ancestor
worship—Andes Region. 8. Andes Region—Religious life and customs.
9. Spain—Colonies—America—America—Administration—History.
I. Title.
F3429.3.R3R36 2010
985'.25—dc22
2010008786
∞ The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and
durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity
of the Council on Library Resources.00ramos front:Death and Conversion in the Andes 3/8/10 10:10 AM Page v
Because nothing in the world is as important or as difficult as dying
well.
—Alonso de la Peña y Montenegro,
Itinerario para párrocos de Indios
Nadie nos dice cómo voltear la cara contra la pared y morirnos
sencillamente.
—Blanca Varela, El falso teclado00ramos front:Death and Conversion in the Andes 3/8/10 10:10 AM Page vi00ramos front:Death and Conversion in the Andes 3/8/10 10:10 AM Page vii
contents
List of Maps viii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
one Death in Pre-Hispanic Peru 9
two Death during the Conquest 34
three The Conquest of Death 61
four Spaces and Institutions for the Missionary Project 89
five Wills, Graves, and Funeral Rites 114
six Ancestors, Successors, and Memory 160
Conclusion 214
Appendix A. Burial Sites, Confraternity Membership,
and Funeral Rites 223
Appendix B. Heirs and Executors 239
Notes 248
Bibliography 305
Index 33800ramos front:Death and Conversion in the Andes 3/8/10 10:10 AM Page viii
maps
The Peruvian Andes 8
Lima circa 1630 100
Cuzco circa 1600 10100ramos front:Death and Conversion in the Andes 3/8/10 10:10 AM Page ix
acknowledgments
Various people and institutions made it possible for me to carry out
the research for this book and devote the time necessary to write it. A
fellowship from the University of Pennsylvania allowed me to pursue
my doctoral studies and develop my interest in the topic. The Center
for New World Comparative Studies of the John Carter Brown Library
in Providence, Rhode Island, gave me access to its book and
document collection in the summer of 1998. I was able to complete the
research in Peruvian archives and libraries that serves as the basis for
this book and other works that I have published in recent years thanks
to Fellowship 6338 of the Wenner-Gren Foundation for
Anthropological Research. I wish to thank the staffs of the research room in the
Archivo General de la Nación, of the Sala de Investigaciones in the
National Library of Peru, of the Archivo Arzobispal de Lima, and of the
Archivo Departamental del Cusco for their professional support. Help
from the Red para el Desarrollo de las Ciencias Sociales en el Perú
during the 2001–2 academic year allowed me to reformulate portions
of this work. In the United Kingdom, the support and understanding
of colleagues and administrators in the history faculty at the
University of Cambridge, Newnham College, and the Centre of Latin
American Studies, University of Cambridge, were very important during
the composition of the final manuscript. I especially wish to thank
Chris Bayly, Alison Burgess, Julie Coimbra, Elizabeth Haresnape,
John Hatcher, Melissa Lane, David Lehmann, Michael O’Brien, and
Megan Vaughan.
| ix00ramos front:Death and Conversion in the Andes 3/8/10 10:10 AM Page x
x | Acknowledgments
Sabine MacCormack enthusiastically undertook the task of
publishing this manuscript in the series she directs and gave me
valuable advice. Barbara Hanrahan, director of the University of Notre
Dame Press, has been extremely kind and patient. Two anonymous
readers for the Press gave me a wealth of useful suggestions. I am
deeply grateful to Rebecca DeBoer and to Ann Aydelotte from the
University of Notre Dame Press for their editorial work.
I wrote the original version of this book in Spanish, my native
language. I wish to thank Anne Pushkal, who translated the first
chapter. I also thank Patricia Simonson, who translated chapters 2, 3, and
4, and Michael Kidd, who undertook the translation of the final
chapters as well as the introduction and conclusion. Kate Reeves revised
and edited the entire manuscript.
I owe an enormous debt to Nancy M. Farriss for the privilege of
her support, friendship, and wise counsel over more than ten years.
Steven Feierman and Ann Farnsworth-Alvear read and critiqued
early versions of this work and offered useful advice. In
Philadelphia, Catherine Bogosian, Joan Bristol, Shefali Chandra, Luli Feliciano,
Laura Matthew, Gene Ogle, Anne Pushkal, and Yanna Yannakakis were
enthusiastic listeners and excellent friends.
M