The Production of Other Knowledges and its Tensions:

From Andeanist Anthropology to Interculturalidad?

Marisol de la Cadena
Department of Anthropology
University of California-Davis
In a recent volume, anthropologist-politician Carlos Ivn Degregori described
anthropology in Peruhis country and mineas having developed an in!ard loo"ing
analytical vie!point that lac"s comparative perspective# $his situation, he e%plains, contrasts
!ith research conditions in the &orthern 'emisphere !here access to bibliographic and
funding resources provide scholars !ith a broader vie! that, nonetheless, features an in!ard
loo"ing tradition of its o!n# (hile resources allo! them to compare and contrast
anthropological "no!ledge about Andean countries, they generally do so !ith information
published in )nglish, mostly by U* scholars# As an e%ample of this parochialism +!hich,
ho!ever, is not generally considered such given the authority of &orth America as an
academic center, he mentions an article by a U* colleague devoted to a balance of Andean
anthropology in !hich -out of si%ty t!o titles mentioned in the bibliography, only t!o are by
Peruvian scholars, and one of them is in )nglish, and !ritten by a Peruvian !oman teaching
in the U*#. /et, suggesting the comple% geo-politics of "no!ledge0po!er relations, he admits
that his o!n balance of Peruvian anthropology e%cluded, or at the very least subordinated,
"no!ledge produced in provincial universities +Degregori, 1222345-46,#
$he hegemony of )uro-American "no!ledge emerges from apparently innocuous
disciplinary interactions# As Degregori7s self criticism alerts us, even critical dispositions
may prove insufficient to shelter us from this hegemony8 !e need to, at the very least, disrupt
the silence in !hich it thrives# Universal in appearance, (estern forms of "no!ledge and its
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practices are not confined to )urope or the United *tatesthey have e%ceeded those
territories for almost si% centuries no!# Articulated by a vocation to spread reason, the
modern geo-politics of "no!ledge both established a center +the &orth Atlantic, and
surpassed it, thus constituting regional academic +and intellectual, formations !ith their
centers +!here the institutions of reason accrued, and peripheries !here rational logic had a
!ea"er established presence# $hese regional formations constitute a comple% configuration
of multiple, hierarchically organi9ed centers, some of !hich are -peripheral., in relation to
other -more central. ones# :unning through this configuration, layered and many-directional
relations of domination and subordination contribute to shaping !hat eventually is
considered universal knowledge and !hat remains considered local information--both
!orld!ide and in specific countries# Indeed, this -universal. and this -local. are also relative
!ithin the configuration8 ho! far local "no!ledge ma"es it, depends-- !e believe
hegemonically--on its -theoretical strength., and this is problematic if by that !e mean a
"no!ledge process that extracts general ideas out of specific meanings, and ignores the
specificity in so doing#
$o illustrate the hegemony of )uro-American forms of "no!ledge, most specifically the
process through !hich it is achieved, this paper attempts a genealogical and dialogical
discussion of that aspect of ;atin American anthropology "no!n as Andeanism# I follo!
Andeanism as it connected !ith academic formations in the United *tates, as !ell as !ith
political-intellectual discussions !ithin ;atin America and Peru, specifically !ith debates
about mestizaje and interculturalidad#
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I start my story early in the t!entieth century, !hen
anthropology had not coalesced as a discipline# /et, discussions about -culture. fueled
nationalist pro<ects promoted by a regional net!or" of intellectuals that, under the rubric of
1
mesti9a<e, eventually contributed to the emergence and articulation of ;atin America as a
geo-political region of sorts# *ignificantly, the discussion !as also mar"ed by !hat
sociologist An=bal >ui<ano +4??5, labeled -the coloniality of po!er. a historical geo-political
condition that de-legitimi9es non!estern forms of ma"ing sense of the !orld, temporali9es
them as pre-modern, and thus sets them up for non co-eval +cf# @abian, 4?6A, representations#
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In the third section I describe the emergence of another net!or"3 that of indigenous
intellectuals# An o%ymoronic identity at the turn of the 12th century!hen Indians !ere
unthin"able as rational beings, let alone intellectualsacting nationally and internationally
this net!or" rebu"es the homogeni9ing narrative of mesti9a<e, and proposes instead
interculturalidad, a social relation able to produce a political community that indigenous
intellectuals imagine through ethnic-cultural +even ontological, diversity#
$he second section interrupts !hat could have other!ise been a seBuence +i#e# from
mesti9a<e to anti-mesti9a<e, and from traditional to grassroots intellectuals-politicians#, In this
section I use the life and !or"s of Peruvian literary !riter and anthropologist CosD Mar=a
Arguedas to illustrate ho! Peruvian social scientists contributed to the hegemony of
universal "no!ledge in a peripheral center +;ima, as they disBualified Arguedas7 attempts
+visionary in the 4?E2s, at re-directing mesti9a<e into interculturalidad, and promoting the
diversity that indigenous intellectuals currently champion# A controversial Peruvian
intellectual, Arguedas7s life and !or"s !ere situated at several highly unusual crossroads# 'e
!as a non-indigenous intellectual and an indigenous >uechua individual, an ethnographer
and a literary !riter !hose !or" resists a binary classification as either fiction or
ethnography# (hile this may be commonsensical to post-colonial sensibilities, in the
moderni9ing 4?E2s Arguedas7s life and !or" defied the limits of certified sociological-
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anthropological "no!ledge and the political pro<ects this "no!ledge sustained# Arguedas
self-identified as -a civili9ed man that has not stopped being at the core, an indigenous
Peruvian. +Dorfman, 4?52, FG,# $his idea, also impersonated by the characters of his stories,
challenged the nationalist teleology of mesti9a<e3 the idea that Indians !ould be included in
the Peruvian nation as mesti9os only once they completed reBuirements for civili9ation#
Arguedas7 self-identification, as !ell as his !or", strived against the -coloniality of po!er.
+cf# >ui<ano, 4??5, that supported images of indigenous Andeans as Hinferior7 and the
ideological historicism that legitimi9ed this perception# And by historicism I mean the
conceptuali9ation of historical time as a measure of the -cultural. distance that e%ists
bet!een co-e%isting (estern and the non-(estern formations +cf# Cha"rabarty, 1222,#
Intriguingly, and to!ards the construction of (orld Anthropologies, Arguedas7s !or"
disrupted the silent hegemony of !estern forms of "no!ledge#
The Inter-American Hu of Peru!ian Anthropology
Andeanism +as a set of academic ideas and field!or" practices, emerged in dialogue
!ith anthropology in the United *tates and, in an apparent parado%, !ith ;atin American
debates about mesti9a<e# An important actor in both net!or"s !as Cohn Iictor Murra +a
:omanian, !ho in the 4?52s!hile teaching anthropology at Cornell !as one of Arguedas7s
most intense interlocutors# /et, Murra7s participation in the U*-;atin American net!or"
predates this friendship# I have traced it bac" to 4?G1 !hen he !ent to Camaica as a Ph# D#
student hired by *idney Mint9, an anthropologist from the United *tates, then !or"ing in Puerto
:ico sponsored by Culian *te!ard# @rom Camaica, Murra !ent to Cuba !here he met @ernando
Jrti9, the author of Cuban Counterpoint. Tobacco and Sugar +4??GK4?F5L,, perhaps the earliest
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historical ethnography produced by a ;atin American intellectual, the first edition of !hich had
a prologue by Mronisla! Malino!s"i# Jrti9 coined the term transculturacin, !ith !hich he
rebu"ed the notion of -acculturation. and <oined the discussion on mesti9a<e, if perhaps only
implicitly# @rom Cuba, Murra too" a boat to /ucatn, and then a plane to Me%ico City !here he
met Angel Palerm, a *panish anthropologist !ho fled @rancisco @ranco7s fascism, and too"
refuge in Me%ico +Castro et#al +eds, 12223FA,# $he friendship later included the Me%ican
Non9alo Aguirre Meltrn, +a crucial interlocutor in the mesti9a<e dialogue, !ho had studied
anthropology at &orth!estern University !ith Melville 'ers"ovit9 and !as, li"e Jrti9,
interested in frican!a# $his dense net!or" of friendships, collegiality, chance, and political
emotions connecting at least the United *tates, Cuba, Me%ico, and *pain, under!rites the
comple%ity of anthropological conceptual itineraries across the Americas, and belies simple
unidirectional flo!s of "no!ledge from &orth to *outh# It also suggests a regional ;atin
American intellectual formation e%isting beyond the boundaries of specific countries, and
genealogically connected !ith an earlier net!or", one that e%isted before the creation of
anthropology in ;atin America#
Articulated by a regionalist-cum-nationalist political emotion, since the late nineteenth
century, this net!or" grouped intellectuals around the idea of Indo-AmDrica, a sub-continental
community that intellectuals imagined emerging from their common cultural pre-Columbian and
'ispanic pasts#
A
(itnessing, participating, and opposing a number of political eventsli"e the
Me%ican :evolution, and the increasing e%pansionist ventures of the U* in ;atin America,
particularly the 4?12s Marines invasion of &icaraguathe leaders of Indo-AmDrica "ne! of
each other, and some even !or"ed together#
F
Nenerally, Indo-Americanistas +commonly "no!n
as Indigenistas, !ere provincial intellectuals +mostly la!yers, familiar !ith their surroundings3
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archaeological remains, fol"lore, colonial !ritings, vernacular languages and indigenous !ays
of living# As anthropology consolidated in the United *tates, Indigenistas traveled &orth both to
share their local "no!ledge !ith their U* counterparts, and to have it academically certified#
@rom Peru Culio C# $ello, an archaeologist, acBuired an honorary degree at 'arvard in the early
4?12s, and the Me%ican Manuel Namio obtained his degree in Columbia !here he !as one of
@ran9 Moas7 students# ;uis )# Ialcrcel, the head of the Museum of 'istory +created in 4?A2, in
;ima, toured several universities in the United *tates !here he !as -impressed !ith the
Moasian, *mithsonian, and 'arvard institutions#. +*alomon, 4?6G36?8 Ialcrcel, 4?64,# $he U*
academia, ho!ever, did not e%haust Indigenistas7 intellectual interest, for Indo-Americanismo
!as a political doctrineand anti-Imperialist at such# Me%ico !as an important ideological hub
in the net!or", the space of a successful revolution, and a source of ideas of mestizaje.
Mesti9a<e !as a population-ma"ing tool that promised to uplift the indigenous
population by draining off their bac"!ardness# It represented the condition of possibility of
;atin America as a future par of its &orthern neighbor, !hile accepting the inferiority of the
region in its current stage of evolution# &avigating the political-academic net!or" that
connected both Americas, ;atin American nationalist discussions about mesti9a<e encountered
the conceptuali9ation of -acculturation.it might have even influenced it, as :alph Meals
+4?GA, seems to suggest#
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:esuming Paul :adin7s +4?4A, discussions about the influence of
!hites on indigenous cultures in the United *tates, in 4?AE the American Anthropological
Association included -acculturation studies. as a legitimate field for anthropological studies and
defined it as -the investigation of the cultures of natives that participate in civili9ed life#.
E
It !as
preceded by the *ocial *cience :esearch Council, !hich in 4?AG established a sub-committee to
promote investigations on -acculturation studies. +*artori , 4??6, Patterson 1222, Meals 4?GA,#
E
$hat same year the AC;* created a Committee on ;atin American *tudies that years later
became an AC;*-**:C <oint committee# $hese associations !ere to coordinate research and
resources !ith policy needs of the U* government as indicated by the Jffice of Inter-American
Affairs, !here the coordinator !as &elson :oc"efeller# (ith funds from this institution, the
&orth American Cohn Collier <oined Me%ican anthropologists in the foundation, in the 4?F2s, of
the "nstituto "ndigenista "nter#mericano# Its mission3 -to carry out research on -Indian
problems. in countries in the (estern 'emisphere. +Patterson 12243 ?G,# $hrough these and
other connections -acculturation. entered the Indo-Americanista net!or" !here it encountered
adherents and opponents#
5
*tarting in this period research funds +particularly from the United *tates, became a
crucial component of ;atin American0ist anthropology and its politics for collaborative
research#
6
$he $andbook of South merican "ndians +4?F5-4?G?, is an icon of this relationship#
Produced under the auspices of the Jffice of Inter American Affairs and led by archaeologist
(endell Mennet and material-ecologist Culian *te!ard, the collaboration bet!een southerners
and northerners must have been fraught !ith academic hierarchies# -$he &orth American
creators of the $andbook and the @rench ethnologists of the Instituto @rancDs de )studios
Andinos, too" as apprentices a large number of Peruvian students. !rote @ran" *alomon
+4?6G3?2, my emphasis,# /et the HPeruvian students7 !ere prominent Indigenistas, salient
participants in the regional mesti9a<e net!or" and influential Hlocal7 intellectual-politicians and
la!ma"ers in Peru# $heir apprenticeship !as specific to the discipline of anthropology then
emerging from the Indo American net!or"politically influential in the *outh, yet
academically subordinated to &orth Atlantic centers of "no!ledge, particularly to the United
*tates and +to a lesser degree, @rance#
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Concerned !ith the creation of Peru as a modern nation, intert!ined !ith official
politics, and boasting Inca legacy, Peruvian anthropology chose past and present Andean
-indigenous cultures. as its ob<ect of study and political representation# *ponsored by the
Peruvian state, the first institutions !ere Museums, the "nstituto de %tnolog!a y r&ueolog!a,
and the Peruvian chapter of the Instituto Indigenista Interamericano created in 4?FG +and lin"ed
to the central III in Me%ico,# Jver the ne%t fifteen years, anthropology became an established
discipline in Peru, and as the epicenter of a -culture area. of its o!n it turned into the center of
U* Andean anthropology, rivaling Me%ican anthropology and shado!ing the development of
Andeanism in neighboring Molivia, )cuador, Chile, Argentina, and Colombia# In stri"ing
contrast !ith Me%ico, the economic support of the Peruvian state to anthropology !ea"ened by
the 4?E2s and the discipline came to depend +almost totally, on public and private funds from
the United *tates and )urope# As in the rest of the !orld, the historical linear narrative proposed
by moderni9ation theoryin both its rightist and leftist versions!eighed heavily in Peru
during this period#
In Peru the prevalence of moderni9ation paradigms meant reinforcing the teleology of
mestizaje. 'o!ever, the earlier Indigenista culture-history nationalist rhetoric !as replaced
by an economicist discourse distinctly colored by the polari9ed political ideologies then
prevalent# Conservative proposals envisioned Indians becoming -farmers. or normali9ed as
urban mesti9os8 from the other end, revolutionary pro<ects reBuired -peasants. or -!age
earners. rather than superstitious Indians immersed in subsistence economies# Proponents of
-dependency theory. shared this vie!# '(ependentistas,) as they !ere "no!n, represented a
left-inclined conceptual alternative to moderni9ation theories that emerged from ;atin
America, and that argued that the lac" of industrial development of the region !as a result of
6
historical colonial relations of domination and contemporary capitalist economic
e%ploitation# @rom this vie!point came a proposal about mesti9a<e as cholificacin. $he idea
!as proposed in the 4?E2s by a highly influential Peruvian intellectual, An=bal >ui<ano,
currently !or"ing on notions of -coloniality of po!er. that I use in this paper, and mentioned
earlier#
$horoughly interdisciplinary and transpiring politics, in the 4?E2s anthropology
thrived in Peru as discursive fields li"e -peasants. and -the countryside. proliferated in
intellectual discussions in connection !ith relatively successful rural social mobili9ations#
Accordingly, social scientists evaluated +accepted or re<ected, foreign theoretical influences
using a value scale measured by their ongoing political pro<ects# @or e%ample3
anthropologists !or"ing !ith the *tate, !elcomed -applied anthropology.8 adherents to
dependency theory follo!ed the !or" of )ric (olf and Maurice Nodelier, and Clifford
Neert9 and ;Dvi *trauss had marginal impact# -Culture. became the concern of a fe! and
marginal anthropologists +!hom moderni9ing Mar%ists usually considered conservatives,
under the leadership of Cohn Murra# In dialogue !ith Cose Mar=a Arguedas, Murra
populari9ed the term -lo Andino. a notion that s!iftly interloc"ed in the Peruvian Indigenista
net!or"# In the years to come this notion !as to spur an interesting controversy in the United
*tates# It !as stimulated by the criticism of Jrin *tarn, a U* anthropologist !ho blamed
Andeanists of political blindness as they had -missed the revolution. that the *hining Path
activists organi9ed even in the villages !here some of them !or"ed +*tarn 4??4,# (hile
discussion around U* Andeanism !as not prominent in Peru, the controversy around
Arguedas7s !or" has long survived his death in 4?E6# Identified as the instigator of -lo
Andino.a notion that ;ima intellectuals !rongly identified as a-historical!hile
?
Arguedas7s anthropology !as never important +and is currently totally ignored, his literary
!or" continues to be contentious among social scientists and politicians ali"e#
All the Bloods: Arguedas as an "nthin#ale $pistemological %e!olution
$he controversy that Arguedas7s !or" !ould eventually provo"e came to fruition
around his novel Todas las Sangres, All the Mloods# In the late 4?E2s, in a reno!ned thin"-
tan" in ;ima, gathered around a round table, a group of prominent social scientists and
literary critics discussed the novel for many hours#
?
After a bitter discussion +that !as taped,
transcribed and published as a boo"let in the 4?62s, they arrived to at the conclusion that the
novel proposed an unfeasible political pro<ect, one that could even be harmful to the country#
$he meeting has become legendary in Peruvian academic mythologyit represents a
foundational moment of -lo Andino. and of its scientific re<ection#
$he publication of the novel +in the 4?E2s, coincided !ith a period of intense conflict
bet!een large lando!ners and indigenous agriculturalists, "no!n as -peasants. or -Indians#.
Inspired by a combination of orthodo% Mar%ism, dependency theory, and indigenous politics
the movement !as successfully sei9ing hacienda lands#
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Todas las Sangres, !hile
sympathetic to the indigenous struggle, contradicted the leftist intellectuals7-politicians7
script# $he script +common to Mar%ist insurgence in ;atin America in the 4?E2s, indicated
that the teachings of political activists +the revolutionary vanguard, as !ell as activism
itself!ould transform Indians into peasants# Illuminated by Hclass consciousness7 these
!ould leave superstition behind to become a part of modern history# +Compa*eros
partners-- !as the *panish term for this political incorporation,# Todas las Sangres disputed
this destiny8 it therefore touched a highly sensitive political nerve of progressive intellectuals#
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)ven more significant +and unacceptableO, Arguedas7s novel posed an epistemological
challenge to the hegemony of the singular modern sub<ect proposed by leftist and
conservative pro<ects ali"e#
*taged in the Andean highlands, the novel describes a bitter dispute bet!een t!o
brothers +Don @erm=n and Don Mruno AragPn de Peraltasupreme lords of an Andean
region,# @erm=n incarnates capitalism, progress and reason and !ants to moderni9e Peru# 'is
regional pro<ect is to develop a mine# Mruno, instead, is a traditional hacendado8 in
Arguedas7s !ords, -he considers moderni9ation to be a danger to the sanctity of the spirit.
+4?EG34G,# @lan"ed by both brothers stands Demetrio :endPn (ill"a, a supervisor of the
Indian !or"ers in the novel, and the core of the controversy at the round table# An Indian
recently returned from several years in ;ima, follo!ing the dominant mesti9a<e-acculturation
script, this character should have been purged of superstitious beliefs, and become an e%-
Indian, an urbani9ed cholo, scornful of things indigenous# /et (ill"a belies the script# @ormal
education and urbani9ation had not transformed him +as proposed by the nationalist pro<ects
and state policies, for he alternated urban and rural Indian garb !ith ease and self-identified
as -a literate comunero8 yet always a comunero. +ibid3 AA,# (ill"a7s urban e%perience had
taught him about the po!er of modern technology, yet he also ac"no!ledged the might of the
sun# :ather than the normal hybrid on its !ay to!ards modernity, (ill"a impersonated an
o%ymoronic hybridity that refused consistency, and !as able to thin"-act in modern and non-
modern termsmuch li"e Arguedas himself revealed he did# My the end of the novel
(ill"a7s inconsistency crosses the tolerable threshold as it enters the political sphere to
organi9e an unprecedented group of indigenous leaders !ho, li"e himself, recogni9e the
po!er of mountains and rivers# $ogether they lead a successful insurrection moved both by
44
magic and reason ali"e# It is reminiscent of the 46GG *antal rebellion in India as Nuha +4?6A,
has represented it# Ultimately, Todas las Sangres proposed an alternative indigenous social
movement, a critical ally of the modern leftyet !ith an a-modern hybrid logic of its o!n#
;iteracy and modern politics !ere important, yet they had to be selectively used and
translated, rather than eradicating, indigenous !ays# As in the follo!ing Buote3
In <ail one learns a lot# $here is a school there# /ou have to listen to the politicians
Kpolitical prisonersL# $he !orld is very big# Mut you do not have to follo! !hat the
politicians say# +e ha,e to learn what they teach according to our understanding-
nuestra conciencia. They are different. .obody knows us# /ou !ill seeOO $hey are
going to ta"e you to prison# K Q L/ou already "no! ho! to sign# In <ail you !ill learn
to read# ;et them ta"e you to ;imaOO +my emphasis, +4?EF3A25,
In his analysis of the 'aitian revolution, historian Michel :alph $rouillot e%plained
that until recently, the idea of blac" slaves fighting for the Independence of 'aiti !as an
unthinkable event3 identified as pre-rational, the idea of blac" individuals +let alone slaves,
defying po!er, and in their o!n terms, e%ceeded historically defined conceptual and political
categories +$rouillot, 4??1,# *imilarly, in the 4?E2s minds of central ;imeRo intellectuals
many of them earnest socialists, and prominent proponents of dependency theorythere !as
no conceptual or political place for :endPn (ill"a# An=bal >ui<ano7s eloBuence in this
respect has become legendary in Peruvian social science circles# About :endPn (ill"a he
said3
this character is e%tremely eBuivocal# I had the impression that he returned from
;ima, totally cholificado, and that he !as going to proceed in a supremely astute
and Machiavellian !ay, to assume the political leadership in the process of
41
peasant insurrection, and therefore he appeared a little in disguise amongst his
o!n# Mut the ne%t impression, particularly at the end of the novel, suggests that
:endPn reintegratesnot totally, not in a fully conscious !ay, but in some sense
he reintegratesback into the indigenous traditional +!orld,# +I)P, K4?E6L
12223G?, my emphasis,
$he indigenous !orld and its animated landscape !ere not the secular arena that modern
political organi9ation reBuired# In apparent parado% then, class analysis !or"ed as a -prose of
counterinsurgency. +cf# Nuha 4?66, for even as rural upheavals too" place under the
leadership of indigenous politicians +probably li"e :endPn (ill"a, they !ere not deemed
indigenous political movements8 they !erefor better or !orseonly an aspect of the
revolutionary struggle led by urban politicians# 'adn7t )ric 'obsba!m defined peasants as
pre-political actors in an analysis that included Peruvian rural movements in his sampleS
+'obsba!m4?54K4?G?L,# $he notion of -change. promoted by moderni9ing premises
+including those of dependency theory and class analysis, !as specific3 it moved for!ard
from -past to future,. from -superstition. to -historical consciousness#. Untamed by this
narrative (ill"a represented the -indiani9ation of politics,. a historical impossibility for the
sociologists !ho imagined a different "ind of leader3
I am currently !or"ing in a research on peasant leadership, and last year I
traveled to several areas affected by the peasant movement# In every peasant
union I have visited, I have found only one indigenous leader# "ndigenous
leadership does not exist today !ithin the peasant movement8 it appears as an
e%ception and in isolated fashion, the Indian leader is himself going through a
4A
process of cholificaciPn# $hus, I do not thin" that an indigenous solution to the
peasant problem !ould be feasible# +I)P, K4?E6L 12223G?-E2,
$hese !ords-- Anibal >ui<ano7s once again!ere the last ones transcribed from the
recording of the bitter session# Albeit simplifiedgiven the tension of the sessionthey
refer to a more comple% argument published the same year as Todas /as Sangres, and soon to
become famous as cholificacin# It described the transformation of Indians into Hcholos7,
their de-indiani9ation and incomplete integration to !estern !ays of being and "no!ing#
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&ot!ithstanding, cholos represented a hopeful national future# $hey indicated according to
>ui<ano -the emergence of an incipient mesti9o culture, the embryo of the future Peruvian
nation if the tendency continues#. +4?EG3E4,#
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)ven a cursory conte%tuali9ation of the debate ma"es clear that >ui<ano 7s position
!as not uniBue even though he might have been Arguedas7 most articulate and vocal
opponent# $hey !ere friends and intense mutual interlocutors, thus the discussion !as
embedded in previous unresolved conversations, the details of !hich I am not a!are of#
4A
$his does not cancel, ho!ever, the conspicuously historicist le%icon >ui<ano used to define
-cholos.I have italici9ed the future-oriented !ordsand !hich prevailed over the
academic and political logic of the period#
4F
It saturated the imagination to the point of
seducing brilliant intellectuals to irrational historical oblivion3 they disregarded that -cholos.
+albeit !ith different labels, had e%isted +historically -in bet!een. rather than -moving
for!ard., for almost five hundred years +i#e# since the *panish invasion of the Andes to the
4?E2s,# @rom the historicist perspective, Demetrio :endPn (ill"a !as not only a
contradictionhe !as not possible# 'e emerged from the genealogy of mesti9a<e only to
belie its teleology as it proposed that indigenous !ays of being +rather than assuming the
4F
for!ard moving history of modernity or simply Hpersisting7, had a historicity of its o!n-- the
undeniable po!er of industrial capitalism not!ithstanding# More significantly, (ill"a7s
political leadership implied the inclusion of indigenous forms of "no!ledge in nation-!ide
pro<ects, and thus challenged the "no!ledge0po!er premise of socialism !hich +as secular
communalism, reBuired the -cooperation of rational beings emancipated from gods and
magic#.
4G
*ocialist liberating politics reBuired the supremacy of reason and Todas las
Sangres, perhaps prematurely, opposed this fundamentalism# Arguedas e%plained3 -socialist
theory gave a course to my !hole future, to all my energy, it gave me a destiny and charged it
!ith might by the direction it gave it# 'o! much did I understand socialismS I do not really
"no!# 0ut it did not kill the magic in me--1ero no mat en m! lo m2gico. +4?54K4?E6L3 16A,.
@rom my vie!point Arguedas7 effort coincides to a large e%tentalbeit thirty years
earlier!ith Dipesh Cha"rabarty7s pro<ect to -provinciali9e )urope#. +Cha"rabarty, 1222,
*uggesting that )uropean thought is indispensable yet inade&uate to e%plore Buestions of
political modernity in the $hird (orld, -provinciali9ing )urope. is a pro<ect to e%plore the
possibilities of rene!ing and transforming currently hegemonic forms of "no!ing from the
margins of modernity# *imilarly, Arguedas7s public persona +as indicated by his !or" and
testimonials of his life, proposed an alternative politics of "no!ledge, one that sa! the
necessity of !estern reason and its incapacity to translate, let alone capture or replace,
Andean !ays of being# :ather than a multi-culturalism tolerant of all bloods,
4E
##as his
politics has been interpreted +Tarp 1222,I !ant to read Arguedas as proposing multi-
ontologism, and a nationalism capable of being general and singular, articulated by reason
and magic, both on eBual standing, and socialist at that#
45
Meyond prevalent economicist
e%planations, he e%posed that capitalism derived its po!er from the !ill of modern
4G
epistemologies to replace non-!estern ontologies !ith modern forms of consciousness# $hus
he unveiled !hat >ui<ano +perhaps moved by this encounter, yet almost thirty years after it
happened, has theori9ed as -the coloniality of po!er,. the concept that I e%plained earlier# In
the late 4?E2s ho!ever, !ith the e%ception of one, +a linguist called Alberto )scobar, all
participants in the 3esa mesa redonda derided Arguedas7s pro<ect#
$he author of Todas las Sangres !as as comple% as the characters he had created +he
!as li"e :endPn (ill"a, he disclosed to one of his colleagues
46
, --and as Hunthin"able7 +in
$rouillot7s terms, for his intellectual interlocutors of the si%ties and seventies# $he son of a
provincial la!yer, and prey of a !ic"ed stepmother, Arguedas !as raised by indigenous men
and !omen +Arguedas 4?EG,# In 4?E?, he told Ariel Dorfman3 -@or someone !ho first
learned ho! to spea" in >uechuaKas !as his caseL there is nothing that is not a part on the
self#. And this ontology eBuipped him !ith a !ay of "no!ing, he continued in the same
intervie!3
I !as purely >uechua until my adolescence# I !ill probably never be able to let go
ofQ my initial conceptuali9ations of the !orld# @or a monolingual >uechua
spea"er the !orld is alive8 there is not much difference bet!een a mountain, an
insect, a huge stone, and a human being# $here are, therefore, no boundaries
bet!een the -marvelous. and the -real. Q there is neither much difference
bet!een the religious, the magical, and the ob<ective !orlds# A mountain is god, a
river is god, and centipedes have supernatural virtues#.+Dorfman 4?523FG,
*imilarly, yet on a different occasion, conspicuously rebu"ing the directionality of
mesti9a<e, he declared3 -I am not acculturated,. and he reiterated his pleasure at being
4E
indigenous and non-indigenous simultaneously3 -I am a Peruvian that proudly, li"e a
<oyous devil, spea"s in Christian and in Indian, in *panish and in >uechua#. +Arguedas
4?543161,# $he speech has become famous amongst ;atin American0ist literary critics
!ho usually see in it a confession of the author7s dramatically singular life tra<ectory,
even an e%planation of his death by suicide, the evidence of the impossibility of his !ay
of being#
Canonical social sciences !ould have not tolerated Arguedas7s assertions, e%cept
probably as someone7s beliefs, an ob<ect of study of anthropology# Contained by literature
4?
up until Todas las Sangres at leastthe !riter7s depictions !ere considered -magical
realism,. the literary genre !here Hthe uncanny7 ceases to be such and becomes ordinary# And
in Arguedas7s life the uncanny !as ordinary, not Buite an ob<ect of study, but part of his
sub<ectivity# -" know 1eru through life,. he used to say + 4??E K4?EGL3 G2,#(ith life as a
source of "no!ledge and literature as his e%pressive genre he blurred the distinction bet!een
-reality. and -fiction.# As such, he described the stories he heard and used as inspiration as3
-Absolutely true, and absolutely imagined# @lesh and bones, and pure illusion.+4?543 11,#
Anthropology !ould have disagreed3 the animated landscape and Hmagical7 insects belonged
to the realm of indigenous beliefs, and as such they !ere distant ob<ects of study, and
vanishing at that# $he discipline !as politically at odds !ith Arguedas7s vie!s# 'e !rote in a
letter to Cohn I# Murra on &ovember A, 4?E5 3
-Development pro<ects to integrate the indigenous population have become
instruments that aim to categorically uproot Indians from their o!n traditions, Q
famous anthropologistsQ preach !ith scientific terminology about Q the
45
ine%istence of a >uechua culture, they say that Peru is not bi-cultural, and that
indigenous communities have a subculture that !ill be difficult to uplift to the
level of national culture,. +Murra and ;Ppe9 Maralt 4??E34E1,#
Amidst the moderni9ing !ill and the rigid political economy positions that had
colored the controversial -:ound $able. and that continued to characteri9e academic thought
in the follo!ing decades, the concern for Andean cultural aspects eventually fit the label of
-lo Andino8. the intellectual community scornfully confined it to anthropology and ethno-
history, the sciences of the past8 sociologists and economists devoted themselves to the study
of the present# As -lo Andino. circulated in the U* and became Andeanism, Arguedas7s
political suggestion for an alternative form of "no!ing!hich he phrased as the demand for
-magic. to be considered on a par !ith reason, and for -informants. to become sub<ects of
"no!ledge--disappeared# $hrough a combination of @rench structuralism, Mritish
functionalism, and U* Andean ethno-history, indigenous "no!ledge eventually became
-Andean thought. the ob<ect of attention of theoretical e%planations that translated the
singularities of Andean !ays of being into the universal languages of -structures. and
-systems#. $he label described a type of anthropology interested in the cultural specificities
of the region, the genealogy of !hich connects !ith Troeber7s notion of -culture area. and
Indigenista political vie!s# Controversial since its inception, -lo Andino. also connected
!ith the pre-e%isting inter-American mesti9a<e net!or" in as much as it endorsed
IndoamDrica as a peculiar cultural-political entity# +:ama 4?61, Additionally, it promoted a
46
specifically regional formation that interloc"ed anthropologies from )cuador, Colombia,
Molivia, and northern Chile and Argentina#
Indigenous Politics and the $nd of &esti'a(e: Interculturalidad or Knowledge as
)ialogic %elationship
Q the gods and other agents inhabiting practices of so-called superstition have
not died any!here# I ta"e gods and the spirits to be e%istentially coeval !ith the
human, and thin" from the assumption that the Buestion of being human involves
the Buestion of being !ith gods and the spirits# +Cha"rabarty 12223 4E,
I have been told that the discussion that too" place at the :ound $able did not have
immediate repercussions8 the tapes !here !ere lost and unearthed several years later, as a
conseBuence of a cleaning spree at the Instituto de )studios Peruanos#
12
/et, it !as not an
ephemeral and isolated incident involving the relationship bet!een t!o intellectuals# Jnce
the transcription !as published as a pamphlet +that has had several editions, the event
became a topic of conversations in Peruvian and international academic circles# @rom my
vie!point, the controversy featured a double, intert!ined symbolism#
14
)pistemologically,
the discussion e%pressed the tension bet!een a !idespread analytical tradition that -tends to
evacuate the local by assimilating it to some abstract universal8 and a hermeneutic tradition
that finds thought intimately tied to places and to particular forms of life# +Cha"rabarty 12223
46,# Politically, the discussions in the 3esa 4edonda !ere a prelude to the intense disputes
that pitted -campesinista. +or -clasista., political leaders against their -indianista.
counterparts and that too" place all over ;atin America in the last decades of the 12
th
century#
+'ale 4??F8 /ashar 4??6, $hese !ere part of a process that some have labeled -the return of
the Indian. +AlbP 4??48 :amPn 4??A8 (earne 4??E,, a reference to the increasing political
significance of social movements that articulate their demands around indigenous issues and
4?
ethnic claimsand that in one !ay or another challenge simplistic universali9ing analytical
vie!points#
)merging in the early 4?52s, organi9ations li"e the Colombian C:IC 5Consejo 4egional
"nd!gena del Cauca6, %C747.4" in )cuador, the AID)*)P in Peru, and in Molivia the
3o,imiento 4e,olucionario Tupac 8atari, insurged in the political picture of their countries
demanding and enacting indigenous citi9enship# *ince their inception the movements have
proposed pro<ects that defy the teleology of mesti9a<e# Accordingly, by the 4?62s +albeit, li"e
any political organi9ation pervaded by internal ideological conflicts, they managed to install
a ne! nationalist +yet highly heteroglossic, vocabulary# (ords li"e -pluri-ethnic. -pluri-
cultural,. -pluri-national. reflected their demands for respect of their ethnic singularities#
More significant, the ne! terminologyits very heteroglossia-- challenged the homogeneity
that sustained nationalist ideals, and the *tate formation that implemented them# Indigenous
political organi9ations acBuired steadiness and <umped to center stage in the 4??2s,
coinciding !ith the G22th anniversary of the arrival of Columbus to the Americas as a
symbolic landmar"# Perhaps the most une%pected and spectacular event in this respect !as
the )cuadoran /e,antamiento "nd!gena +the Indigenous Uprising, that shoo" the country and
occupied its capital, >uito, in Cune 4??2# According to )cuadoran historian Nalo :amPn, the
;evantamiento -removed the dam that the dominant pro<ect for a national *tate, had created
since 46A2. +:amPn, 4??A3 1,#
Predictably +although surprisingly, and still inadmissibly, to some, the political
mobili9ationthe return of the Indianalso meant an -uprising of "no!ledges. +cf#
@oucault, 4?62364-65,, the insurrection of !ays of "no!ing defined by science as local,
disBualified and illegitimate# :eminiscent of ArguedasU character :endPn (ill"a, the original
12
leaders of the movement !ere indigenous individuals !ho combined rural and urban
e%perience, as did the movement, as it deftly appropriated modern practices and transformed
their logic# Illustrative of this, and since the very beginning, the political demonstrations of
the movement boasted Andean ritual iconography and enactments, thus de-seculari9ing
politics, as in Arguedas7s novel# Intended as -acts of memory. +cf# Mal 4???, the de-
seculari9ed political rituals also defy official nationalist histories, introducing into the
political pantheon the presence and ideas of indigenous activists# In Molivia, for e%ample, as
the memory of $upac Tatari !as revitali9ed and politici9ed, his phrase -I !ill return
transformed into thousands. became central to the indigenous social movement# $Vpac
Tatari !as an indigenous insurgent !ho led an anti-colonial struggle at the end of the
eighteenth century8 his very memory demanded the restoration of indigenous actions and
"no!ledges in history-- the de-coloni9ation of history# Urged by this need, the social
movements produced their o!n organic intellectuals, indigenous university students and
professors decided to -recover and re-elaborate the indigenous past and its forms of historical
"no!ledge. +$icona 12223 41,# $hey also established &on Novernmental Jrgani9ations, li"e
$'JATaller de $istoria 9ral ndina-!hich functions in ;a Pa9, +Molivia, since 4?6A-
4?6F and !or"s to -investigate, disseminate, and revitali9e the culture, history, and identity
of indigenous peoples#. +http300!!!#aymaranet#org0thoa5#html,
Ideologically fragmented into divergent tendencies, the process of re-!riting indigenous
histories and transforming the political habitus in Andean countries is no panacea# As !ith
any political process, this one has been fraught !ith po!er struggles, e%pressed in
essentialisms, factionalisms, and the production of universali9ing meta-narratives of its o!n#
+(arren 4??68 $icona 12228 AlbP 4??F8 Ian Cott 1222, 'o!ever, it has certainly burst open
14
evolutionary narratives of indigeneity and advanced a politics of indigenous heterogeneity#
(ithin this novel narrative, Nuatemalan-Maya historian )dgar )sBuit e%plains3 -Mayaness is
!hat Mayas do, provided that other Mayas recogni9e it as such. +1222,# More importantly,
the public +and at times highly influential, presence of indigenous intellectuals has made
obvious the possibility for an epistemic border +cf# Mignolo, 1222, !here, at ease or
a!"!ardly, rational "no!ledge cohabits !ith non-rational "no!ledge# Jrgani9ed in social
movements, this blend sustains political pro<ects that have as an important ambition to
transform the modern *tate# $he most !idespread e%pression of this attempt is currently
phrased as interculturalidad, a political pro<ect through !hich the indigenous social
movement in )cuador, for e%ample, proposes to create -a plurinational *tate, that recogni9es
the diversity of its peoples. +/umbay 122434F,
*ustained and produced by political organi9ations freBuently opposed to the neo-liberal
policies that states have attempted to implement since the 4?62s, +*elverston-*cher 1224,
interculturalidad belongs to the genealogy of mestizaje, yet it !or"s against the coloniality of
po!er0"no!ledge and the stage-ist narrative of history that sustained the former# ;i"e
mesti9a<e, it produces and is produced by a dialogic academic-political intellectual ;atin
American net!or"8 yet the current net!or" +enhanced by the !orld !ide !eb, includes
indigenous intellectuals0politicians and global institutions-- ranging from funding agencies
+li"e J%fam America, or the N$W, to multilateral organi9ations +the (orld Man", for
e%ample#, )merging in the 4?52s from discussions about bilingual education programs for
elementary schools in Peru, )cuador, and Molivia, interculturalidad +again, li"e mestizaje, is
a highly heteroglossic notion# $he most !idespread Peruvian version is a *tate-pro<ect
defined as a -dialogue among cultures. +Noden99i 1221,8 still a bio-political attempt to
11
-improve Indians,. it revolves around bilingual education +>uechua and *panish,# In
Molivia, the P:J)IM Andes, a college for bilingual education teachers in Cochabamba,
features a similar mission since 4??E !hen it !as established# In both countries, the main
activities are administered and funded by the *tate through the Ministry of )ducation, and
the participation of indigenous organi9ations is marginal# /et interculturalidad has also an
ambitious version that aims at forging nationsand ultimately a !orld--characteri9ed by
-pacific cohabitation among peoples and cultures, based on <ustice and eBuality for all.
+MenchV 4??634A,# $o!ards that goal, in )cuador, -the indigenous movement has had as one
of its main political and ideological ob<ectives the construction of interculturalidad as a
principle that articulates demands to a monocultural *tate, and that aims at transforming the
very conceptuali9ation of the *tate itself. +(alsh 12213 44G, Its greatest challenge then is to
become a new social relationship that along !ith feminisms, environmentalisms, and
indigenous social movements can confront former social hierarchies of reason, property,
gender, and se%uality and produce a democratic *tate that -does not hold cultural
renunciation as a condition for citi9enship. +$ubino 1221,#
*eemingly then, in one of its most conseBuential versions, interculturalidad is a novel
+and, I !ould say, deeply subversive, *tate-ma"ing technology and an epistemological site
for the production of a different "ind of "no!ledge# :elated to this, +as !ell as to the
urgency to re-!rite national history, and to produce histories, the creation of alternative
centers of "no!ledge has been a central concern of indigenous social movements# In
)cuador, the Universidad Intercultural represents such an effort# A document stating its goals
describes it as a plural space, +i#e# not e%clusively indigenous, or for the production of
-indigenous "no!ledge., -for the creation of novel conceptual and analytical frame!or"s,
1A
able to produce ne! categories and notions that have Hinterculturalidad7 as their
epistemological frame!or"#. +Istituto Cientifico de Culturas Indigenas, )ditorial 1222, $he
same editorial critici9es modern science as having emerged from a monologue and building
self-referential categories -that did not allo! the inclusion of -the strange. and -different.
!ithin the borders of "no!ledge#. Intriguingly, it concludes !ith a series of Buestions3
If modern science has been monologic, and if the conditions for "no!ing are al!ays
implicated in the conditions of po!er, then ho! can !e generate the conditions for a
dialogueS 'o! do !e articulate interculturalidad within the limits of epistemology and the
conditions of "no!ledge productionS 'o! do !e contribute to the adventure of
"no!ledge from different sourcesS 5:Como aportar a la a,entura del conocimiento
desde nue,as fuentes;6 +ibid,#
I !ant to bring these stimulating Buestions to the arena of anthropology!hich the
Universidad Intercultural rightly critici9es as having constituted itself by creating and
maintaining indigenous peoples as others, and moreover, by e%cluding their possibility self-
understanding# $hus, in finali9ing this section, I !ant to use the opportunity of the Buestions
as a call for an anthropology +most specifically for an ethnographic production, articulated
by !hat I call -relational epistemologies#. Inspired by Arturo /umbay an )cuadorian
politician !ho described the role of the anthropologists !ho !or" !ith the indigenous social
movement as one of acompa*antes +companions in a dialogic sensesee /umbay 1224,, I
see relational epistemologies as a situated "no!ledge position +cf# 'ara!ay 4??4,# $hat
position assumes the historical contingency of universal categories and uses them in dialogic
process !ith local thought, !hile paying relentless and critical attention to processes of
1F
translation bet!een both, thus rendering local "no!ledge visible#

:elational epistemologies
cancel sub<ect-ob<ect positions, and upon interacting !ith its others as selves !ho spea",
thin" and "no!, +cf# *almond, 4??G, they have the potential to create the conditions for the
emergence of anthropology in the plurals"illed enough to overcome its (estern singularity
and become a multiple !orld discipline# )ventually, beyond its disciplinary boundaries,
(orld Anthropologies could communicate bet!een (estern disciplines and other
"no!ledges, considered as such in their own right#
*oncluding %emar#s
At the beginning of this paper I said I !ould use Arguedas to illustrate the politics of
"no!ledge production as they emerged !ithin the Peruvian intellectual-political community#
/et, I did not mean to present a polari9ed situation !ith Arguedas on one side, and
recalcitrant rationalists on the other one# $his is not ho! hegemony !or"sand the
hegemony of (estern "no!ledge practices are also apparent in CosD Mar=a Arguedas7 !or"#
@or in spite of the epistemological challenge that his literature represented, the process
through !hich this !riter crafted his anthropology !as full of intriguing tensions that reveal
his compliance to reason, science, and to the social-academic hierarchies that structured ;atin
American society in the 4?E2s and linger today# In his correspondence !ith anthropologists
he repeatedly regretted his -ignorance of theory. and subordinated local anthropology to
metropolitan centers of "no!ledge3 -Jnly those that have been seriously trained abroad can
teach here, can conduct scholarly institutions +Q, $he rest, li"e me, can do a little in art but
in the sciences !e7re pathetically dead, and some of us accept to remain in our positions
because there is no one better yet. he !rote in a letter in4?EE#
11
1G
$his opinion belongs to the genealogy of "no!ledge against !hich interculturalidad has
insurged# /et the dynamics and hierarchies of hegemonic "no!ledge continue to pervade its
production# Pamela Calla, a Molivian anthropologist describes some of the conflicts at the
Molivian P:J)IM College !here she teaches# *tudents, she tells us, have coined labels that
attest to different forms of being indigenous, !hich, ho!ever, highlight the tensions of being
-inferior. in a modern sense, i#e# less educated or less masculine# @or e%ample, on one
occasion the students classified themselves into -academics. and -fundamentalists#. &ot
surprisingly, the -academics. self-position as a superior group in the tension and is
challenged by the -fundamentalists. self-identification as -more indigenous. and therefore
more masculine +Calla 1221,# Although the latter interpretation challenges dominant
stereotypes, !hereby -!omen are more Indian. +De la Cadena 4??4, they continue to abide
by modern gender hierarchies# *imilarly, pressures to be modern and indigenous are
comple%as in the follo!ing Buote, by an indigenous leader, !hose name I !ill "eep
anonymous3
*ometimes I feel I am going cra9y because I cannot thin" li"e an Indian anymore#
I fight for Indians among !hites, and therefore I have to thin" li"e them# I
represent indigenous interests !ithin *tate institutions, but I have not been bac" in
my village for three years# I travel all over the place, and I "no! I am an Indian#
Mut !hat "ind of an IndianS +Jliart 1221,
As becomes obvious through these Buotes, interculturalidad is not a smooth, let alone
simply successful, process# Moreover it has not eliminated images of liberal Andeanism in
the region# A conseBuential e%ample should suffice to illustrate the !ay it thrives in Peru# In
1E
4?6F, caught in !ar bet!een the *hining Path and the Peruvian Army, indigenous peasants
from the village of Uchuraccay +located in the region called Ayacucho, the epicenter of the
violence, collectively "illed si% <ournalists !ho !ere investigating another massacre that had
ta"en place !ee"s earlier in a nearby area# :eactions to the event included colonial anti-
Indian fears as !ell as paternalistic pro-Indian attitudes# $he Novernment responded by
nominating a commission to investigate the massacre# ;ed by the internationally famous
Mario Iargas ;losa, since the assassins !ere Indians +not modern Peruvian citi9ens, the "ey
members of the official group !ere t!o anthropologists, rather than la!yers as !ould
correspond to a criminal investigation# :emoving the "illers from history, the anthropologists
e%plained that the Indians had "illed the <ournalists moved by a combination of ancestral
fears and cultural principles#
1A
$he anthropologists !ho authored the report are currently "ey
advisors to a governmental effort to transform Peru into a multicultural nation compatible
!ith the economic mission of neo-liberalism# @rom this perspective, Andeanist
multiculturalism continues the legacy of earlier acculturation theories# Indians can
successfully become moderni9ed cholos# $he current President, Ale<andro $oledo
commonly called -el Cholo $oledo. in Peru--represents this possibility, for he is3 -an e%-
Indian !ith no comple%es, and the cool calculating mind of a *tanford, and 'arvard
academic. !ith the ability to -understand life from a vie!point rooted in analytic rigor and
scientific information#.+ ;losa 1222312,# It may be only a coincidence, but the author of the
Buote is Alvaro Iargas ;losa, the son of Mario Iargas ;losa, the authority in the
aforementioned report# +'e is also the author of a boo" entitled /a 7top!a rcaica in !hich
he discussed Arguedas7s !or" as an anachronistic desire, a reversal of 'istoryand thus not
only Utopia, but archaic at that#,
15
In the 4?E2s-4?52s historicist class analysis !or"ed as a -prose of counterinsurgency.
that e%cluded indigenous revolts from the academically defined field of politics# At the turn
of the t!enty first century, liberal multiculturalism can !or" as an -anti-politics machine.
+cf# @erguson 4??2, by including !ithin the hegemony of liberalismor neo-liberalism in
this case--circumstances that could reveal and thus politici9e everyday narratives of
-cultural. or -ethnic. e%clusion# $he inclusive yet de-politici9ing !or" of multiculturalism
!or"s through normali9ing education# In Peru, for e%ample, the scandal that !ould other!ise
represent the image of a cholo as President of the country, is canceled Xor at the very least
soothed --by references to Ale<andro $oledo7s training in the centers of reason, an indication
of his adeBuacy as a modern politician# Arguedas through his intricately fictional :endPn
(ill"aand through his o!n lifeBuestioned normali9ation through education# 'e thus
re<ected the everyday habits of thought of his peers and provo"ed an intellectual-political
scandal that the counterinsurgent prose of modernity could not control# *imilarly scandalous
are discussions of interculturalidad and the presence of indigenous intellectuals in countries
li"e Nuatemala, )cuadorlet alone Peru# *iding !ith the scandalous +for they challenge the
simplicity of modernity, and inspired by Arguedas, I !ant to propose that in as much as
indigenous social movements articulate an alternative to modern politicsand the nation-
states they sustain--they have the potential to transform the liberal empirical notion of
-diversity. currently tolerated in liberal multi-culturalisms into political demands for the
citi9enship of plural ontologies and their forms of "no!ledge# As a !estern social science
enabled by non-!estern locations, anthropology is in the condition to contribute to the
visibility of other forms of "no!ledge# In order to do that, an a!areness of anthropological
16
"no!ledge as a dialogic process of translationbet!een the local and the universal, bet!een
histories and 'istory, bet!een the singular and the generalis in order#
+otes
4
I use Ma"htinUs notion of dialogue !ith @oucaultUs genealogical perspective to avoid the
linear historical narrative that naturali9es the current geo-politics of "no!ledge#
1
$o formulate this notion >ui<ano +4??5, e%plains that an intert!inement e%ists bet!een
)uro-centric forms of "no!ledge and current forms of domination throughout the !orld#
$he roots of this po!er formation can be traced bac" to the si%teenth century !hen
beliefs in the superiority of Christian faith vis-Y-vis -paganism,. enabled )urope to
constitute itself as the epicenter of modernity allegedly the most advanced 'istorical
moment of humanity# *upported by a )uro-centered notion of linear time, the po!er that
supported the ConBuest of the Americas and connected the -ne!. and -old. !orlds
conditioned a production of "no!ledge according to !hich Americans occupied the past
and lac"ed !hat )uropeans had3 most specifically, civili9ation and reason# Installed in the
discipline of 'istory, this conceptual alchemy that relentlessly and pervasively
reproduced the image that )urope !as the future of non-)uropean populations has
survived de-coloni9ing movements, and continues to inform dominant !ays of "no!ing#
A
Influenced by readings of *pengler7s The (ecline of the +est +!hich reached ;atin
American readers through the *panish Jrtega y Nasset7s 4e,ista de 9ccidente +Ialcrcel,
4?64, Indo-Americanistas proposed that their -ideological and philosophical liberation
from trans-Atlantic domination. !as to be epistemologically inspired by -a spiritual
attitude sympathetic of the past#. +Narc=a, 4?A43AA,
F
$he most prominent proponent of this regional cum nationalist community is CosD
Iasconcelos accredited as the inventor of the 4aza Csmica##the leading slogan of the
Me%ican nation-building pro<ect specifically "no!n as mestizaje# $he Peruvian I=ctor
:aVl 'aya de la $orre founded the ccin 4e,olucionaria mericana +later to become
the AP:A, an important populist Peruvian party, !hile in Me%ico in 4?1F, !here he
!or"ed as a personal aid to Iasconcelos, then Minister of )ducation# In turn, 'aya de la
$orre !as a conspicuous supporter of the anti-imperial struggles of CDsar Augusto
*andino in &icaragua, and both subscribed Iasconcelos7s brainchild, "ndoam<rica#
*imilarly, from the other end of the continent the Argentinian :icardo :o<as crafted the
image of %urindia, suggesting a regional identity built from the encounter bet!een
indigenous American and )uropean traditions, imported to Argentina by colonial
*paniards, and by Italians, *panish, and )nglish immigrants in the early 12th century#
G
According to :alph Meals +4?GA, :obert :edfieldthen at the University of Chicago
coined the term after his visits to Me%ico in the 4?12s# *imilarly, Melville 'ers"ovit9
+another of Moas7s student and li"e him interested in American-African population, used
1?
-acculturation. upon returning from field!or" in *urinam +!here he might have become
in contact !ith Caribbean notions of m<tissage and negritude#, 'e !as !or"ing !ith
:edfield at Chicago at that time +Meals, 4?GA,#
E
Also in 4?AE, :edfield, 'ers"ovit9 and ;inton !rote -A Memorandum for the *tudy of
Acculturation#. +Meals, 4?GA,
5
Among the first to contest the notion !as @ernando Jrti9# Acculturation, he opined,
simplified the comple% cultural give and ta"e that characteri9ed ;atin American society
since the arrival of the *paniards# $he mi%ture !as transcultural-it operated in multiple
directions as the ;atin American indigenous, *panish, and blac" cultures changed
interdependently# +Jrti9, 4?F28 :ama, 4?5S8 Coronil, 4??G,# (hile some literary critics
use the notion of transculturacin to conceptuali9e Arguedas7s position, Jrti97s concept
maintains -the notion of levels of cultural development. +Coronil, 4??G3 %i%, that
Arguedas7s e%perience and !ritings oppose#
6
Also a conseBuence of -culture area,. +and illustrative of the international influence of
the notion, the Instituto @rancDs de )studios Andinos !as funded in 4?F6, !ith Alfred
MDtrau% as an important authority#
?
$he thin"-tan" !as the "nstituto de %studios 1eruanos# Created in the early 4?E2s, by a
group of elite sociologists, anthropologists, historians, philosophers, and economists it
!as among the first institutions to actively see" and receive private funding# It !as
peculiar in that it combined the legacy of Indigenismo !ith cutting edge dependency
theorists# $he elite social position of its members, along !ith their leftist penchant made
the Institute an influential organi9ation, central in the developement of the social sciences
in Peru# ;uis )# Ialcrcel, Cohn Murra, CosD Matos Marall figures related to the
Me%ican hub of inter-American anthropology!ere members of the Instituto#
42
$o control the turmoiland moderni9e the countrysidethe *tate responded !ith
development plans to -integrate the indigenous population. and in !hich anthropologists
foreign and local--profusely participated# $he best-"no!n efforts !ere the Cornell-
Iicos pro<ect, and the 1lan de "ntegracion de la 1oblacion borigen# (ith the
participation of anthropologists from the United *tates and Peru, they functioned in the
4?G2s and 4?E2s#
44
In 4?EF Anibal >ui<ano published -;a )mergencia del Nrupo Cholo y usus
Implicaciones en la *ociedad Peruana +)sBuema de )nfoBue Apro%imativo,# It !as
published in 4?62 as -;o Cholo y el Conflicto Cultural en el PerV. in an edited volume#
(ominacin y Cultura Cited by Nuillermo :ochabrVn ed# 1222#
41
In -)l Movimineto Campesino del Peru y sus ;ideres, In 4?5? it !as published in
1roblema grario y 3o,imientos Campesinos# Cited by Nuillermo :ochabrVn ed# 1222
4A
An=bal >ui<ano, personal conversation, August 122A#
A2
4F
@rom similar evolutionary mind frames, some historians and sociologist denied
-nationalist consciousness. to peasants# *ee for e%ample, 'eraclio Monilla -$he (ar of
the Pacific and the &ational and Colonial Problem in Peru,. in 1ast and 1resent 643 ?1-
446 and 'enri @avre -:emarBues sur la ;utte des Classes pendant la Nuerre du
PacifiBue. in /it<rature et Societ< au 1<rou du ="= eme si<cle a nos >ours. +Nrenoble,
pp# GG-64,4?5G,#
4G
$he !ords belong to )nriBue Mravo Mresani, an engineer attending the Mesa :edonda,
and soon to become an ideologue of the :evolutionary Military Novernment that in 4?E6
issued an Agrarian :eform aimed at halting the rural turmoil#
4E
Among critics that have commented on the phrase are3 :o!e, )sca<adillo, Corne<o
Polar, )scobar, ;ienhard, *pitta, :ama, ;arsen, ;ambright, Moreiras, Devine
45
$he Uruguayan Angel :ama, for e%ample, has li"ened Arguedas7s denial of
acculturation to Jrti97s earlier -transculturation.I presented it in the first section# Mut
Arguedas7s testimonial suggestions transcend the bi-directional cultural mi%ture that Jrti9
defined as transculturation# (hile this notion altered the linearity of acculturation and
argued for the cultural specificity of Cuba, it yielded to the superiority of (estern
civili9ation# Moreover, it !as conceived from a (estern !ay of being and "no!ing#
46
Intervie! by $oms )sca<adillo in Cultura y 1ueblo ARo II, &o# 5-6, 4?EG, ;ima
+Buoted in $oms )sca<adillo in 4e,ista 1eruana de Culture, ??@#?A, ?BCD pp.B@-BA6
4?
In thisand probably other featuresArguedas7s !or" is comparable Wora &eale
'urston7s production#
12
David *obrevilla, personal communication# August, 122A#
14
According to Carmen Mar=a Pinilla, the attendants !ere prey of -a scientificist.
position that prevented them from offering a -more open. vie!point and attitude# $he
t!o most prominent opponents of Arguedas !ere considered among the -most serious.
among the nascent social sciences# +425, -)n ellos sobre todo el de >ui<ano sobre
cholificaci.on, se apreciaba el uso cretivo y e<emplar de la teoria sociologica para
e%plicar proceses de cambio en el peru, anotando regularidades y haciendo
generali9aciones#. +425,
11
$he letter !as addressed to his dear friend, Ale<andro Jrti9 :escaniere, !ho !as
studying in Paris under the direction of Claude ;Dvi *trauss, an almost un"no!n figure in
the 4?E2s Peruvian anthropology circles# +Jrti9 :escaniere, 4??E3 12?,#
1A
$hat these -timeless Indians. !ere seasonal laborers in coffee plantations, that they
!ent on !ee"ly trips to nearby to!ns to purchase rice, sugar, "erosene, and cigarettes,
that their sons and daughters !ere servants in the city, and that they !ere unfortunate
actors in the !ar bet!een the *tate and the *hining Path !ere absent in the report#
A4
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