Research Catalog

Title

A history of the Khipu / Galen Brokaw.

Author

Brokaw, Galen, 1966-

Publication

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xvi, 300 pages, [16] pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps; 24 cm

Summary

This book begins by proposing a theoretical model that reconciles orality-literacy studies and media theory in order to avoid the specious dichotomization of societies into those with and those without writing. The more relevant issue is the way in which a given society distributes semiotic functions among the various media that it employs and the forms of economic and political integration within which such media function. This theoretical model then informs a history of the Andean khipu from pre-Columbian times through the first 120 years of the colonial period. The first half of the book examines early Andean media and their socioeconomic and political contexts, culminating with the emergence of Wari and subsequently Inca khipu. The second half of the book documents and analyzes the continued use of khipu by indigenous individuals and communities in their interactions with Spanish officials, chroniclers, and priests. The study corrects many common misconceptions, such as the alleged mass destruction of khipu in the late sixteenth century. Even more importantly, it highlights the dialogue that occurred in the colonial period between the administrative and historiographic discourses of alphabetic Spanish and those of native Andean khipu genres --Provided by publisher.

Series Statement

Cambridge Latin American studies ; 94

Uniform Title

Cambridge Latin American studies ; 94.

Subjects

• Indians of South America > Peru > Politics and government
• Peru > Antiquities
• Quipu > History
• Indians of South America > Andes Region > Communication
• Peru > Politics and government
• Indians of South America > Peru > Languages > Writing
• Spaniards > Peru > History
• Peru > Ethnic relations
• Peru > Social conditions
• Indians of South America > Peru > Social conditions
• Literacy > Peru > History

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 275-294) and index.

Contents

Andean media prior to the Spanish conquest. Early Andean societies and semiotic practices ; Middle horizon media and the emergence of the khipu ; The khipu and the Inca state -- The khipu in the early colonial period, 1532-1650. Historiographic khipu and colonial chronicles ; Spanish visitas and administrative khipu ; The khipu and the colonial state ; Ecclesiastical khipu and Spanish evangelization.

Call Number

JFE 15-7243

ISBN

• 9780521197793
• 0521197791

LCCN

2009045435

OCLC

463855237

Author

Brokaw, Galen, 1966-

Title

A history of the Khipu / Galen Brokaw.

Imprint

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Cambridge Latin American studies ; 94

Cambridge Latin American studies ; 94.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 275-294) and index.

Research Call Number

JFE 15-7243