Ode to Social Constructions
Jasmine for you: Reading blog 6
If you’ve never heard me utter the words “ummmm actually, that’s a social construct” then we’ve probably never spoken. I am the person who will argue till I’m blue in the face (consequently matching my hair) that ideas like virginity are constructions that are patriarchal in nature and not a tanigble reality. My social justice major makes me a pseudo-expert of naming and deconstructing social constructs by attactching them to intersecting power structures and pointing out their limitations.
So when I read the sentence “postconquest Cuzco was a concept as well as a geographical location” (25) in Inka Bodies by Carolyn Dean I was excited by the implications. I’ve been trying to make my learning more grounded in environment in an attempt to decolonize my learning, but every one in a while it’s nice to indulge in my old bad habits so this should be fun.
Theres are a few different aspects that can be broken down in this short sentence so lets go through them together.
Cuzco as the center of the Inka empire was both a concept and a geographical location before and after conquest in the same way all cities are. But the way the text is specifically discussing it needs to focus on the post conquest part so lets start there. A big aspect of Spanish colonialism is getting people to buy into the dream. The conquest is one thing but establishing ruling power and building upon something that is already there requires belief. Beleif is buying into the concept of what Cuzco was before and now could be. Cuzco under Spanish colonial rule is an important reminder of the Inca so that the Spanish have a chance to show their power over a powerful enemy. Therefore by comparison the Spanish solidify their greatness. The preservation of a Spanish perception of Cuzco also creates a dictonomy of a Spanish representation of modernity. Empires are built because of people buying in to social constructs so being able to view and contextualize Cusco in this way is vital to understanding the impact of Spanish colonialism on Indigeneity in a post-colonial Cusco.
On the topic of things I would like to know more about/ could use some time to go back to I’m interested in more class talk of Guaman Poma because I feel like I might have read him a little harshly the first time around/misinterpreted his text. Reading others posts and being able to have class discussions allowed me new insight I had not had previously so I enjoyed that. Speically maybe chapter 6 Good Government.
The end,
Orla
I have in fact heard you utter the words "ummmm actually, that’s a social construct", Self awareness is key! You are so right about the Spanish's implemetation of social constructs to get people to buy into the dream, as you say. There were extensive sanitation and cleanliness campaigns in cuzco that disproportioanately affected women and indigenous/mestizo people, these constructs did so much harm.
"A big aspect of Spanish colonialism is getting people to buy into the dream." This phrase has given me a lot to think about, especially the forcefulness of the verb “buy.” Using a play on words, when the economically disadvantaged invest in the Empire, they are often completely stripped of their resources and become subalterns. They don't enter it like the elites do. In other words, to symbolically participate in the Empire, many Indigenous communities had to "purchase" their belonging at the cost of losing material conditions such as land, water or labor.