2017-01-07 S.Wernke (Vanderbilt), Bound together, torn apart
Channel: Archaeological Research Facility, UC Berkeley
Date: 2020-01-23

This lecture was presented on Jan 7, 2017 as the Institute of Andean Studies Meetings as the Public Lecture.
STEVE WERNKE (Vanderbilt University), "Bound together, torn apart: a spatial archaeology and microhistory of forced resettlement in the colonial Andes"
The General Resettlement of Indians (Reducción General de Indios) in the viceroyalty of Peru was one of the largest forced resettlement programs by a colonial power in world history. Over a million native Andeans were resettled to compact towns in just a few years during the 1570s. How “reducción” towns were situated and built, how living in them affected daily life in indigenous communities, and why some were abandoned while others endured remain vexing questions. This talk renders these processes in detail through holistic and spatial-analytical research centering on a spectacularly-preserved reducción town in the high altitude reaches of the Colca Valley of southern Peru. Spatial analyses of the settlement and historical demography reveal the processes involved in locating and building the town, as well as the mapping of Andean community onto its urban grid. Combined spatial modeling of movement and visual perception inside the town enables approximation of the experience of dwelling in its built environment. The demographic, political, and economic legacies of colonial resettlement here and elsewhere are also explored.
http://instituteofandeanstudies.org