2020-01-11 C. Hernández G. (UC Riverside), W’akas, Plazas, and Conquest
Channel: Archaeological Research Facility, UC Berkeley
Date: 2020-01-22

This Lecture was presented on Jan 11, 2020 as the Institute of Andean Studies Meetings Public Lecture in Berkeley, CA.
Carla Hernández Garavito (University of California, Riverside), W’akas, Plazas, and Conquest: The Children of Pariaqaqa and the Inka Empire (Huarochirí, Peru)
In Huarochirí, pairing colonial texts and archaeological research provides a unique lens on how one community experienced and portrayed its incorporation into the Inka Empire. Results from excavations at the site of Canchaje, a pre-Inka w’aka transformed into an Inka-style plaza, show extensive evidence of cultural resilience. Material analyses and reading of historical sources suggest the incorporation of local rituals into plazas, enabling the people of Huarochirí to subvert the terms of their subjugation and maintain a sense of continuity even in state-sanction spaces. My results highlight the importance of reinvention among Andean communities in the face of political imposition.
http://instituteofandeanstudies.org