Algunas perspectivas político-ecológicas sobre la loza andina

Abstract

The new, hybrid scholarly field of political ecology, focused on the twenty-first century’s innovation-driven economy, has perspectives useful in studying an earlier “global” or “knowledge” economy that emerged in Spain’s sixteenth century colonial enterprise. This essay explores the production of tin-enameled pottery (majolica; loza) in Spain and its colonies, particularly the viceroyalty of Peru, through the field’s dual emphasis on the political (the ethno-religious persecution of Muslims, and the mercantilist trade policies of Christian Spain) and the ecological (resource availability and use).
Political-ecological concepts such as “business clusters,” “gatekeepers,” and “pipelines” can be applied to the many factors influencing the history of development of this ware in Spain and Ibero-America. In contrast to today’s economy, attitudes toward innovation in pottery were rather ambivalent, and innovations were primarily introduced from outside Spain (especially from Italy) rather than internally developed. Early tin-enameled ware produced in the Andes follows traditional Hispano-Moresque green and black decoration, unlike in Mexico, where it was relegated to second-class status. Blue painting arrived late, but it is not known if this was because the potters who settled in the Andes were primarily morisco refugees or a consequence of lack of access to cobalt igment because of the region’s distance from Spain.