Resilient Lords and Indian Vagabonds
Wealth, Migration, and the Reproductive Transformation of Quito's Chiefdoms, 1500-1700
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2740262 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Karen M Powers (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1991 |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 225 |
| Publication date | 1991-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Ethnohistory (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0014-1801 • E-ISSN: 1527-5477 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/482354 |
| OpenAlex | W2318819501 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the chiefdom underwent important sociopolitical changes in the Audiencia of Quito as chiefs forged a variety of strategies to confront the disruptions of Spanish colonization. By tracing the family history of one ruling lineage, I argue that while the chiefs' survival strategies generated a significant transformation of indigenous political norms, they also served to reproduce Andean society. Adaptations based on the accumulation of private wealth and on the recruited labor of Indian vagabonds are examined in detail. The sociopolitical consequences of Spanish colonization for the indigenous societies of the Audiencia of Quito were many and far-reaching.1 I will limit my analysis, however, to one institution, the chiefdomship, since the trajectory of the native lords' historical experience mirrored, in important ways, the general evolution of indigenous society under the early colony. This correlation had its origins in Andean concepts of rule that typically created a confluence of lordly and community interests. Although Quito's chiefdoms were pre-Incaic polities adulterated early on by Spanish practices, their members continued to have more than political expectations of leaders. The native lord, owing to his role as administrator of his subjects' labor and resources, was not just a political figure but the guardian of the community's socioeconomic system. Furthermore, his legitimacy rested on the efficiency with which he carried out his administrative and redistributive obligations and on his ability to practice institutionalized generosity. The community reciprocated by providing its leader with labor.2 Although the reciprocal relationship between rulers and ruled weakened considerably during the early colonial Ethnohistory 38:3 (Summer I991). Copyright ? by the American Society for Ethnohistory. ccc 0014-I80I/9I/$..50. This content downloaded from 207.46.13.112 on Mon, 03 Oct 2016 05:30:22 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
Chiefdom · Ethnology · Geography · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Demography · Historical Studies in Latin America · History · Latin American history and culture · Law · Politics and Society in Latin America
“Con el sudor de mi frente”. Las cacicas de la Audiencia de Quito en la economía del siglo XVIII
Recent Research on the Andes before Independence
Los curacas hechiceros de Jauja
The Devil and the Dolorosa
Ethnogenesis, Ethnicity, and "Cultural Refusal"
Qaqchas and to Plebe in “Rebellion”
Qaqchas and to Plebe in "Rebellion"
Continuing the Bleeding of These Pueblos Will Shortly Make Them Cadavers
| Citations per year | 0.27 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1996 - 2021 (26) |
| Highly cited | No |