Module 2: The Andean Geo-Cultural Formation

Question 1

Tawantinsuyu

Answer 1

1. Inca Empire (from 13th to 16th century): The last Andean civilization in power
2. “Realm of the Four Parts”
3. Inka = Andean Aristocracy (15,000 of 10 million)
4. Unified different Andean communities (Quechuan and Aymaras)
5. Cuzco: the Inca Empire’s capital

Question 2

Peru After Colonization

Answer 2

1. Jose Carlos Mariategui (1894-1930): Peruvian writer, activist, and philosopher
   - “Seven Interpretative Essays on Peruvian Reality” (1928)
   - “The Problem of the Indian”
2. “The problem of the Indian is rooted in the land tenure system of our economy (…) not in its racial dualism or pluralism or its cultural or moral conditions”

Question 3

Economic systems in Peru

Answer 3

1. collectivism and reciprocity (Inca Period (Pre-Colombian Era))
2. Feudalism and slavery: Gold and silver extractivism (Colonial Period)
3. Gamonalism and latifundism: commodities exportation (guano) (Independence and Republican Period)

Question 4

Indigenism in Peru

Answer 4

1. Jose Maria Arguedas (1911-1969): Peruvian writer and anthropologist. Bilingual (Spanish & Quechua)
   - Mexican Indigenism & Peruvian Indigenism
   -Cultural Indigenism
   - - Criticizes the idealization of Indigenous cultures and people
   - - Against the ‘folklorization’ of Indigenous cultures and its idea of being repository of timeless identities

Question 5

Mestizaje in Peru

Answer 5

1. Cultural Mestizaje (Peru) vs. Racial Mestizaje (Mexico)
   - Transculturalization (Indigenous + European cultures) vs. Whitening (blanqueamento)
   - There is no cultural purity. No Indigenous traditions are “pure” in essence
   - Mestizaje as a source of cultural renewal and does not homogenize different cultural groups (maintain internal differences)
2. “Mestizaje therefore enabled the community to keep traditions, which the poorer and economically marginalized native communities could not”

Question 6

Peruvian Geography

Answer 6

1. Coast vs Andes & Rain Forest
2. 32 million pop.
   -12 mil pop in Lima (3rd most pop city in Latin America)
3. Andean & Amazonian Region: Poorest Regions in Peru

Question 7

Capitals in Peru

Answer 7

1. Lima (1535) — Colonial & Republican Peruvian Capital
2. Cuzco [Quechua: Qosco] (13th century) — Inca Empire’s Capital

Question 8

1980s — The Shining Path, The Rise of Left-Wing Guerrila

Answer 8

1. Marxist-Leninist-Maoist Armed Guerrilla and Communist Party
2. “Popular war” vs. Labor Unions
3. Controlled territories in the Andean highlands: Initially Indigenous peasants supported the movement
4. Violent actions towards those who didn’t join the political movement
   - Assassination of antagonists: peasants, journalists, civilians, etc
   - Lucanamarca Massacre: 69 deaths of civilians

Question 9

Who Abimael Guzman Was?

Answer 9

1. Abimael Guzman (1934-2021)
   - Professor of philosophy in Ayacucho (Peruvian Andes)
   - Aka Chairman Gonzalo
   -Peruvian Maoist Revolutionary
   -Considered a sacred figure in the revolutionary movement
2. The Shining Path Movement
   - Started as a college student movement
   -From middle class college students to indigenous peasants

Question 10

1980s — Peruvian State Reaction

Answer 10

1. Peruvian Administration declared State of Emergency to Ayacucho Region
2. Military Forces occupied Ayacucho region
3. Violence against Sendero Luminoso members but also civilians
4. No strategy was applied only violence
5. Peasants: majority in Shining Path and Counterterrorist groups
6. 70,000 deaths

Question 11

1990s — The Rise of Right-Wing Dictatorship

Answer 11

1. The Shining Path moves from the Andes to Lima
   - Car bomb attacks
2. 1990 Presidential Elections: Alberto Fujimori
   -Promise to eliminate the Shining Path movement
   - Fujimori’s auto-coup: dictatorship regime
   - Dissolve the Congress and Judicial Power: centralize the power

Question 12

1990s — Dissolution of the shining path

Answer 12

1. The Army changes its strategy: intelligence surveillance
   - Discover where the Shining Path leaders was hidden
   -Abimael Guzman was arrested in 1992
   -Although all the Shining Path movements were arrested. Fujimori starts a policy against ‘terrorism’
2. Assassination of remaining Shining Path members but also of political rivals
   - Violence against civilians (supposed terrorists)
   - Campaign to reduce 50% of poverty: 350,000 forced sterilizations (majority of Indigenous women)

Question 13

2000s — The End of Fujimori’s Era

Answer 13

1. Alberto Fujimori Administration (1990-2000): Three times elected
   - In his third term he renounced after popular protests on the streets
2. In 2007 he was arrested for corruption ($15 million from Peruvian treasure)
   - 2016: Sentenced 25 years of prison for the Barrios Altos and La Cantuta massacre
   -2017: Received the pardon from Pres. Pedro Kuczynski
   -2018: Peruvian Supreme Court denied the pardon
   -2019: Peruvian Constitutional Course voted to release Fujimori from imprisonment

Question 14

Bolivia

Answer 14

1. “Bolivia”: Simon Bolivar, Venezuelan leader of Spanish American Independence
2. Tiwanaku Empire (Aymaras) - 1500 BC
3. 1535 - Francisco Pizarro (Viceroyalty of Peru)
4. 1809 - La Paz Revolution & Bolivian Independence
5. Languages: Quechua, Aymara, Guarani, and Spanish
6. 2012: 59% Mestizos, 31% Indigenous, 10% white and 1% black
7. The Plurinational State of Bolivia

Question 15

20th Century Bolivia

Answer 15

1. White minority (ruling class: landowners and mine owners) vs. 60% Indigenous people (rural or miner workers)
2. Reproduction of colonial system
3. From silver to tin extraction (extant)
4. Republican political system but illiterate people cannot vote

Question 16

Chaco War (1932-1935)

Answer 16

1. Petroleum discovered in the Andean region (bordering with Paraguay)
2. Dispute between oil companies Royal Dutch Shell (The Netherlands) and Standard Oil (USA)
3. Bolivia lost the war against Paraguay
4. Biggest war in South America: 60,000 Bolivian and 30,000 Paraguayan deaths

Question 17

Chaco War (1932-35) and Mineworkers Union (1942)

Answer 17

1. Bolivian soldiers: Mestizo middle class + Indigenous peasants = emergence of Bolivian nationalism
2. Left wing military coup: mandatory unionization for all Bolivian rural and miner workers
3. Clash between military troops and tin miner workers in 1942
4. Foundation of Syndical Federation of Bolivian Mineworkers in Oruro
   -Most organized and class-conscious workers

Question 18

Bolivian Revolution (1952)

Answer 18

1. Mestizos and Indigenous mine workers and peasants vs military troops
   - A section of the Army supported the mine workers and peasants
2. Nationalization of miners and petroleum companies and control of tin exportation
3. Foundation of central Obrera Boliviana (integrate all the Bolivian worker’s unions)
4. Agrarian Reform (1953)
5. Universal suffrage

Question 19

Bolivian Plurinational State

Answer 19

1. Evo Morales, first Indigenous president in Bolivia (2006-2019)
2. Labor Union leader and cocalero activist
3. Political Party MAS (movement for socialism)

Question 20

Bolivian Constitutional Reform in 2009 — Plurinational State

Answer 20

1. The National State of Bolivia conformed to the plurality of Indigenous cultures and nations
2. 36 Indigenous languages (official languages)
3. Every Indigenous Nations has the right to their cultural identities and religious practices