This article examines the notions of personhood and property underlying relationships between hum... more This article examines the notions of personhood and property underlying relationships between humans and places in the Rio Negro watershed of the central Peruvian Andes. Through offerings, dreams, and divination, glacial peaks become active participants in social interactions with herders, contrasting with the regimentation of subjectivity involved in the notions of private property that inform common expectations for human–place relationships. I illustrate this argument through an ethnographic account of herders’ interactions with glaciers, starting with their routine work in the high grasslands and the accompanying ritual offerings to and divinatory communications with mountains, then moving to the appearance and communications of the same mountains in dreams, and concluding with an example of divinatory consultation with an individual mountain from a distance. In conclusion, I argue that the kinds of relationships herders form with glaciers are dependent on the spatial routines – the habitual patterns of movement and residence – that allow for their co-presence and sharing of substance.
Previous studies have shown that language contributes to humans' ability to orient using landmark... more Previous studies have shown that language contributes to humans' ability to orient using landmarks and shapes their use of frames of reference (FoRs) for memory. However, the role of environmental experience in shaping spatial cognition has not been investigated. This study addresses such a possibility by examining the use of FoRs in a nonverbal spatial memory task among residents of an Andean community in Peru. Participants consisted of 97 individuals from Ancash Que-chua-speaking households (8–77 years of age) who spoke Quechua and/or Spanish and varied considerably with respect to the extent of their experience in the surrounding landscape. The results demonstrated that environmental experience was the only factor significantly related to the preference for allocentric FoRs. The study thus shows that environmental experience can play a role alongside language in shaping habits of spatial representation, and it suggests a new direction of inquiry into the relationships among language, thought, and experience.
En su novela Los Ríos Profundos, José María Arguedas presenta la música como un tema central en l... more En su novela Los Ríos Profundos, José María Arguedas presenta la música como un tema central en la realidad Andina. Este artículo examina cómo la representación de la música hecha por Arguedas refleja las tensiones sociales en los Andes, y cómo viene a ser vinculada con la acción política subversiva. El análisis explica la importancia de la interacción que contextualiza la performance musical y el rol de la materialidad en este proceso. Se enfoca en una escena de la novela que juega con una oposición hecha por Arguedas en el texto entre materialidades andinas y europeas. Arguedas produce esta oposición a través de la descripción de instrumentos musicales como los pinkuyllus y wak’rapukus en contraste con los platillos y saxófonos. Esta distinción viene a tener un rol causativo en la escena analizada solo a través de su evocación en la interacción social que acompaña y contextualiza una performance musical. La conclusión sugiere que los elementos físicos de la música, tanto de los instrumentos como de los sonidos, proveen una diversidad de posibles interpretaciones. Es solo a través de la progresión de la interacción alrededor de la performance que una sola interpretación emerge y, posiblemente, se convierte en la materia de la acción política.
In his novel, Los Ríos Profundos, José María Arguedas presents music as a central theme in Andean life. This article examines how Arguedas’ representation of music reflects social tensions in the Andes, and how it comes to be involved in subversive political action. The analysis explains the importance of the interaction that contextualizes musical performance and the role of materiality in this process. It focuses on a scene in the novel that works together with an opposition made by Arguedas in the text between Andean and European materialities. Arguedas produces this opposition by means of descriptions of musical instruments like the pinkuyllu and the wak’rapuku in contrast to the cymbal and the saxophone. This distinction comes to have a causative role in the analyzed scene by means of its evocation in the social interaction that accompanies and contextualizes a musical performance. The conclusion suggests that the physical elements of music, both instruments and sounds, provide a diversity of possible interpretations. It is only by means of the progression of the surrounding interaction that a single interpretation emerges, and is possibly converted into material for political action.
En este artículo presento la importancia que tiene
la lengua nativa para los estudios y proyectos... more En este artículo presento la importancia que tiene la lengua nativa para los estudios y proyectos medioambientales y sugiero tres etapas de esta inclusión. Para ilustrar, considero el léxico (e. g., topónimos, nombres de especies, etc.), la morfología de derivación verbal y la gramática de orientación espacial, y en cada caso muestro su funcionamiento como mecanismo y reflejo de las prácticas ambientales de los hablantes. Empiezo con un episodio ilustrativo.
This article examines the notions of personhood and property underlying relationships between hum... more This article examines the notions of personhood and property underlying relationships between humans and places in the Rio Negro watershed of the central Peruvian Andes. Through offerings, dreams, and divination, glacial peaks become active participants in social interactions with herders, contrasting with the regimentation of subjectivity involved in the notions of private property that inform common expectations for human–place relationships. I illustrate this argument through an ethnographic account of herders’ interactions with glaciers, starting with their routine work in the high grasslands and the accompanying ritual offerings to and divinatory communications with mountains, then moving to the appearance and communications of the same mountains in dreams, and concluding with an example of divinatory consultation with an individual mountain from a distance. In conclusion, I argue that the kinds of relationships herders form with glaciers are dependent on the spatial routines – the habitual patterns of movement and residence – that allow for their co-presence and sharing of substance.
Previous studies have shown that language contributes to humans' ability to orient using landmark... more Previous studies have shown that language contributes to humans' ability to orient using landmarks and shapes their use of frames of reference (FoRs) for memory. However, the role of environmental experience in shaping spatial cognition has not been investigated. This study addresses such a possibility by examining the use of FoRs in a nonverbal spatial memory task among residents of an Andean community in Peru. Participants consisted of 97 individuals from Ancash Que-chua-speaking households (8–77 years of age) who spoke Quechua and/or Spanish and varied considerably with respect to the extent of their experience in the surrounding landscape. The results demonstrated that environmental experience was the only factor significantly related to the preference for allocentric FoRs. The study thus shows that environmental experience can play a role alongside language in shaping habits of spatial representation, and it suggests a new direction of inquiry into the relationships among language, thought, and experience.
En su novela Los Ríos Profundos, José María Arguedas presenta la música como un tema central en l... more En su novela Los Ríos Profundos, José María Arguedas presenta la música como un tema central en la realidad Andina. Este artículo examina cómo la representación de la música hecha por Arguedas refleja las tensiones sociales en los Andes, y cómo viene a ser vinculada con la acción política subversiva. El análisis explica la importancia de la interacción que contextualiza la performance musical y el rol de la materialidad en este proceso. Se enfoca en una escena de la novela que juega con una oposición hecha por Arguedas en el texto entre materialidades andinas y europeas. Arguedas produce esta oposición a través de la descripción de instrumentos musicales como los pinkuyllus y wak’rapukus en contraste con los platillos y saxófonos. Esta distinción viene a tener un rol causativo en la escena analizada solo a través de su evocación en la interacción social que acompaña y contextualiza una performance musical. La conclusión sugiere que los elementos físicos de la música, tanto de los instrumentos como de los sonidos, proveen una diversidad de posibles interpretaciones. Es solo a través de la progresión de la interacción alrededor de la performance que una sola interpretación emerge y, posiblemente, se convierte en la materia de la acción política.
In his novel, Los Ríos Profundos, José María Arguedas presents music as a central theme in Andean life. This article examines how Arguedas’ representation of music reflects social tensions in the Andes, and how it comes to be involved in subversive political action. The analysis explains the importance of the interaction that contextualizes musical performance and the role of materiality in this process. It focuses on a scene in the novel that works together with an opposition made by Arguedas in the text between Andean and European materialities. Arguedas produces this opposition by means of descriptions of musical instruments like the pinkuyllu and the wak’rapuku in contrast to the cymbal and the saxophone. This distinction comes to have a causative role in the analyzed scene by means of its evocation in the social interaction that accompanies and contextualizes a musical performance. The conclusion suggests that the physical elements of music, both instruments and sounds, provide a diversity of possible interpretations. It is only by means of the progression of the surrounding interaction that a single interpretation emerges, and is possibly converted into material for political action.
En este artículo presento la importancia que tiene
la lengua nativa para los estudios y proyectos... more En este artículo presento la importancia que tiene la lengua nativa para los estudios y proyectos medioambientales y sugiero tres etapas de esta inclusión. Para ilustrar, considero el léxico (e. g., topónimos, nombres de especies, etc.), la morfología de derivación verbal y la gramática de orientación espacial, y en cada caso muestro su funcionamiento como mecanismo y reflejo de las prácticas ambientales de los hablantes. Empiezo con un episodio ilustrativo.
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In his novel, Los Ríos Profundos, José María Arguedas presents music as a central theme in Andean life. This article examines how Arguedas’ representation of music reflects social tensions in the Andes, and how it comes to be involved in subversive political action. The analysis explains the importance of the interaction that contextualizes musical performance and the role of materiality in this process. It focuses on a scene in the novel that works together with an opposition made by Arguedas in the text between Andean and European materialities. Arguedas produces this opposition by means of descriptions of musical instruments like the pinkuyllu and the wak’rapuku in contrast to the cymbal and the saxophone. This distinction comes to have a causative role in the analyzed scene by means of its evocation in the social interaction that accompanies and contextualizes a musical performance. The conclusion suggests that the physical elements of music, both instruments and sounds, provide a diversity of possible interpretations. It is only by means of the progression of the surrounding interaction that a single interpretation emerges, and is possibly converted into material for political action.
la lengua nativa para los estudios y proyectos
medioambientales y sugiero tres etapas de esta inclusión.
Para ilustrar, considero el léxico (e. g., topónimos,
nombres de especies, etc.), la morfología de
derivación verbal y la gramática de orientación espacial,
y en cada caso muestro su funcionamiento como
mecanismo y reflejo de las prácticas ambientales de
los hablantes. Empiezo con un episodio ilustrativo.
In his novel, Los Ríos Profundos, José María Arguedas presents music as a central theme in Andean life. This article examines how Arguedas’ representation of music reflects social tensions in the Andes, and how it comes to be involved in subversive political action. The analysis explains the importance of the interaction that contextualizes musical performance and the role of materiality in this process. It focuses on a scene in the novel that works together with an opposition made by Arguedas in the text between Andean and European materialities. Arguedas produces this opposition by means of descriptions of musical instruments like the pinkuyllu and the wak’rapuku in contrast to the cymbal and the saxophone. This distinction comes to have a causative role in the analyzed scene by means of its evocation in the social interaction that accompanies and contextualizes a musical performance. The conclusion suggests that the physical elements of music, both instruments and sounds, provide a diversity of possible interpretations. It is only by means of the progression of the surrounding interaction that a single interpretation emerges, and is possibly converted into material for political action.
la lengua nativa para los estudios y proyectos
medioambientales y sugiero tres etapas de esta inclusión.
Para ilustrar, considero el léxico (e. g., topónimos,
nombres de especies, etc.), la morfología de
derivación verbal y la gramática de orientación espacial,
y en cada caso muestro su funcionamiento como
mecanismo y reflejo de las prácticas ambientales de
los hablantes. Empiezo con un episodio ilustrativo.