Poder, reciprocidad y ordenamiento del cosmos en El Shincal de Quimivil (Catamarca, Argentina)

摘要

In order to understand the logic of Andean ordering, power is frequently referred to as the guiding concept to comprehend the way of perceiving and rationalizing the world. To this end, modern social science has provided a set of premises to discuss this signifier, such as unidirectionality, the positive association between power and dominion, its accumulation in the form of prestige, or the human centrality in decision-making. However, its extrapolation to societies with rationality different from Western rationality must be critical. In this work, we propose to rethink the epistemological bases on which the notions of power applied to Andean societies are built. To do this, we will use the notions of complementarity, reciprocity, and community. Also, we will discuss power as a strength flow, and we will emphasize the wakas as entities that concentrate and manage these flows, with an agency that allows transcending the dichotomy between the physical and the human worlds. We linked these theoretical considerations to the study of the materiality from the Inka site El Shincal de Quimivil, which exhibits the presence of powerful entities through a scheme of wakas organized in three levels, included in each other; in increasing order: the rocks, the hill, and the site.