202557(en)/2 - Ritual Congregation Settings and the Reproduction of Herding Communities in the Southern Andes
RITUAL CONGREGATION SETTINGS AND THE REPRODUCTION OF HERDING COMMUNITIES IN THE SOUTHERN ANDES
LOS ESCENARIOS DE CONGREGACIÓN RITUAL Y LA REPRODUCCIÓN DE LAS COMUNIDADES PASTORILES SURANDINAS
Axel E. Nielsen
Building on the premise that the reproduction of any community requires instances of interaction and co-presence among its members, I propose that places of congregation associated with landscape features of special cosmological relevance were crucial for the emergence of common identities among pastoralists and, eventually, for their political mobilization. I discuss this hypothesis through the analysis of two cases: the ritual of Spiritu among present-day herders of Lípez (Potosí, Bolivia) and Cerro Cuevas Pintadas (Salta, Argentina), a complex of rock art sites with a high frequency of herding-related motifs that during the Late Prehispanic Period (AD 1000-1600) became a place of community congregation and public commensalism. I conclude highlighting the potential of these places for studying the role of pastoralists in political processes in the Southern Andes.
