The Metamorphosis of Heads: Textual Struggles, Education, and Land in the Andes

345 Pages·2006·3.4 MB·English

by  Denise Y. Arnold

THE METAMORPHOSIS OF HEADS
ILLUMINATIONS: CULTURAL FORMATIONS OF THE AMERICAS
JOHN BEVERLEY AND SARA CASTRO-KLARÉN, EDITORS
THE METAMORPHOSIS OF HEADS
Textual Struggles, Education, and Land in the Andes
Denise Y. Arnold
With Juan de Dios Yapita
University of Pittsburgh Press
Published by the University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15260
Copyright © 2006, University of Pittsburgh Press
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Printed on acid-free paper
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
library of congress cataloging-in-publication data
Arnold, Denise Y.
[Rincón de las cabezas. English]
The metamorphosis of heads : textual struggles, education, and land in the Andes /
Denise Y. Arnold with Juan de Dios Yapita.
p. cm. — (Illuminations)
Translation of: El rincón de las cabezas.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8229-4280-1 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Indians of South America—Education—Bolivia. 2. Aymara Indians—Education.
3. Indians of South America—Andes Region—Languages—Writing. 4. Quipu. 5. Inca
textile fabrics. 6. Indian literature—Criticism, Textual. 7. Transmission of texts—
Andes Region. 8. Literacy—Bolivia. 9. Peru—HistoryConquest 10. Spain—
Colonies—America—Administration. I. Yapita, Juan de Dios. II. Title. III. Illumina-
tions (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
F3320.1.E4A7513 2006
302.2'24408998324—dc22 2005031096
For Elvira Espejo and other intellectuals of the Andean highlands,
and to the memory of Anne Paul
Our ancestors never, never ever knew how to read and write,
they never ever learned, did they?
For our ancestors then, the book was the natural world,
everything that really existed in nature, our ancestors read
in accordance with the season, with the time of year .....
Professor Domingo Choque, Academy of Aymara
Language and Culture, Pusisuyu
Contents
List of Illustrations, ix
Acknowledgments, xi
Introduction, 1
part 1. textual struggles
1. Andean Textual Polity, 19
2. Colonizing Texts and the Struggle over Meanings, 38
part 2. the rostrum of heads
3. Land, Seeds, and Letters:
The Cycles of Production and Reproduction, 69
4. Cycles of Metamorphosis: The Children as Enemies, 87
5. Warriors and Weavers: The Pathways of Learning
in the Community, 110
6. The Cycles of Libations in School Rituals, 133
part 3. andean texts and their interpretation
7. Cycles of Memory: The Inka’s Voice, 161
8. Cycles of Sound: Prayers and the “Rain of Letters,” 183
9. The Corporeality of Kipus: Toward a Mathematics Incarnate, 207
10. Kipu, Number, and Writing, 225
11. Textual Logic in the Andes, 244
12. Toward an Andean Textual Theory, 273
Notes, 291
Bibliography, 303
Index, 323

vii

IllustratIons
Fig. 1. Map of communities mentioned in the study 13
Fig. 2. The Coya’s belt in the American Museum 22
Fig. 3. Catechisms in the form of boustrophedon and spiral 48
Fig. 4. Drawings from Jakhüwi 4 (p. 29) 59
Fig. 5. The cover of Jakhüwi 1 with people of paper and ink 60
Fig. 6. Drawings from Aru 1 (p. 26). A child on the floor, while a
group of children traces his body with pencil on paper 61
Fig. 7. Photo of children sacrificing a sheep in a multimedia presentation (2004) 64
Fig. 8. Photo of the parade which began in Uma Jalsu (Where the
Water Comes Out), Livichuco, 5 August 1998 76
Fig. 9. Photo of the parade which began in Uma Jalanta (Where the
Water Goes In), Livichuco, 6 August 1998 76
Fig. 10. Photo of the march in front of the school rostrum,
Livichuco, 6 August 1998 77
Fig. 11. The model of communal education developed by the comunarios 90
Fig. 12. Photo of the tongue and throne motif 101
Fig. 13. The ideal couple of weaver and warrior 127
Fig. 14. The school ritual sites in Livichuco 140
Fig. 15. Photo of the anxata ritual in the hamlet of Livichuco 140
Fig. 16. Photo of a child butting his head against a ram 141
Fig. 17. Inka usnus 149
Fig. 18. A Moche usnu 149
Fig. 19. Photo of schoolboys with their knitted caps hanging
down behind, like trophy heads 157
Fig. 20. Photo of a typical reading corner 162
Fig. 21. The hand and kipu counting 214

ix