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"The Last Incas", Modernization and Globalization of an Andean Culture

Dr. Katharine Seibold has been visiting the village of Choquecancha, which is near Cuzco, since 1975. She speaks both spanish and Quechua, the native language of the indigenous peoples of the area who are descended from the Incas. Choquecancha is located on the eastern side of the Andes mountains in Peru. It is at an elevation of 10,200ft and forms a triangle with Machu Picchu to the northwest and Cuzco to the southwest.

The culture of these people has transformed from their view of the earth as Mother and the mountains as Lord to one of capitalism and worrying about getting fair market prices. Where once land was their mother, now it is just property - a means to material gains. However, when Seibold traveled there twenty-two years ago, they did not even realize they were a part of the country of Peru, that they were poor, or that they had no worldly possessions. That, however has changed.

The people of Choquecancha used to spend their evenings telling stories, playing music together and visiting with their neighbors, a real community. Now many families have television sets and so sleep deprivation from staying up late to watch the Mexican soap operas is rampant. Their society has changed to an individualistic one instead of a communal one. Seibold has personally seen the rate of violence rise after TV and taped movies were brought to this isolated village and in a culture where the genders were seen as "separate but equal" there is now suppression of women as men feel they need to be "macho".

Language is another area where the lives of the Choquecancha people have changed. It used to be that they spoke only Quechua, the language of the Incas. But since 1975, spanish has been taught to them by teachers shipped in by the Peruvian government and the indigenous people see upper social mobility equated to the ability to speak spanish. At one point in time, they were banned from speaking Quechua in the classroom, but now their classes are taught bilingually.

The Peruvian government has at times during the past 22 years banned the wearing of indigenous clothing. In fact, many folks change into modernized street clothes when they come out of the mountains because bus drivers will not pick them up. The urban population discriminates against the indigenous peoples and will not recognize them as the descendants of the Ancient Incans, though they capitalize on that ancient link to make money. Many of the indigenous population go into the towns to pose for photos as their means of making money. However, when they do so, they go to town in their street clothes and change into commercially made "incan" clothes at the edge of town. They then allow themselves to be photographed by tourists and change back before they go home.

On the subject of commercially made clothing, the entire weaving industry of the indigenous peoples of the Andes is also much different than expected. In the aforementioned photos, one sees these - usually women and girls - posing in bright colors with geometric patterns. Weaving is now just a means for making money rather than being a "cultural marker". Instead of selling items with the patterns that they enjoy making for themselves (animals and other large images)out of the materials they prefer (synthetic fibers) they create woolen items that have been identified by the government as being more internationally marketable as "incan". They were taught how to make natural dyes (from plants, etc) by instructors brought in by the government as that is what the government wanted to market. They use commerical dyes for the items they make for their own use.

Why is this difference important? Because it means that the "incan" culture which we see in magazines and the items we purchase from these people is NOT culturally accurate. The government has an image they want to project to the world which is not what is really the culture of these descendants of the Incas. They are suppressed, belittled, and used as a means of income by their government. However, their culture has been changed so rapidly (mostly during these past 25 or so years) that only the oldest generation has any resemblance to the Incas of old. Hence, Dr. Seibold has named these few remaining individuals The Last Incas.

There is a resurgence amongst the indigenous population to re-learn their culture. But, as always happens when a culture is lost, it will never be quite the same. There has been a loss of cultural identity, crop diversity, and pharmacological losses as well. Individualism comes first now, rather than community. They have been made into a "peasant" community so that the Peruvian government could give them an economic status. What was once a barter system has become a cash-based system focussed on material acquisitions. Theft and violence have increased and education is seen as an "exit strategy" by the younger generations, rather than as a means of building life-long skills.

Unfortunately, the Last Incas are leaving us. A rich, beautiful culture is being transformed into a piece of the world's commercial pie. Just another thing to sell, a place to go see. Only pieces of the Incas are preserved, and those are only seen in museums now. With an ecomony that relies on tourism, why couldn't the government see the value in the REAL indigenous population? Why did they have to be "modernized" and their products "globalized"? I have no answers to these questions, but we should all be sad to know that this ancient culture is soon to be lost to us all.

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"The Last Incas", Modernization and Globalization of an Andean Culture

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