equilibrium and extraction: dual organization in the Andes

Abstract

The division of society and space into halves or “moieties” has been an important feature of Andean culture for centuries. Contemporary moieties are often regarded as the result of either an impervious pre‐Columbian conceptual model that has resisted Spanish influence or of marriage preferences. In this article I challenge these views, arguing that the ubiquity of moiety organization today can best be understood as the result of an indigenous imperial model of domination, the extractive uses of which continued into the Spanish Colonial and Republican periods. Based on a case study from the southern Peruvian Andes, I demonstrate that the continued use of moieties in Andean communities must also be understood in terms of the role that dualism plays in ritual action and other conceptual and social domains. I also explore the relationship between equilibrium and extractive ideologies, and between historical models and contemporary social process.

Lo andino, duality, and indigenous identities in Prehispanic highland Bolivia

“…In the Andes, they are described in early Colonial Period ethnohistoric documents about the Inka (Jenkins, 2001). The panacas (royal lineages) of Cuzco were organized into upper and lower groups of ayllus (Gelles, 1995). The kings of the upper and lower moieties of Cuzco ruled simultaneously, but the upper moiety king had supremacy in external affairs (Isbell, 1997, p. 63).…”

“…Intoxication through copious libation is a critical element of these occasions; like in ancient Andean festivals involving chicha and food consumed in huge quantities, the tinku gives vent to tensions while reinforcing social bonds between rivals. Here too we see the focus on bonding two complementary groups together as one through periodic releases of social fission, tension, frustration, and competition (Gelles, 1995). This is important because if dualism in a community such as Jachakala helps to foster social cohesion and smooth over social tensions in times of conflict or crisis, then tinku rituals may have provided a mechanism for overcoming them.…”

Kneading life: women and the celebration of the dead in the Ecuadorian Andes

“…Bloch 1982), or of their interweaving in the creation of a human being as threads in a fabric (see Canessa 1999; Platt 2001). Although life and death depend on supernatural forces (see Bastien 1978; Gose 1986; 1994; Harris 1989; 1995; Nash 1979; Rösing 1994; 1995; Sallnow 1989), humans have an important – albeit limited – role in the production of life, and the preparation of the bread babies deploys the important role that gender complementarity has in the provision of life (Allen 1988; Gelles 1995; Gudeman 1986; Harris 1980; Isbell 1976; Platt 1986; Silverblatt 1988).…”

Pre-Columbian Landscapes of Creation and Origin

“…Ideas surrounding encounters and alternation, that is, alternate succession, performance or occurrence, are related to this aspect of center (Gelles, 1995:715). Center in this sense is particularly appropriate to consideration of the division of Andean societies into moieties and for ritual performance during certain rites of festivals (Harrison, 1989;Gelles, 1995).…”