Producing Cherrepe: reduccion, etnia, and performance in the Zaña and Chamán valleys, XVI and XVII centuries

Abstract

Since the early 20th century, Andeanist archaeologists have made frequent use of ethnohistoric and ethnographic sources to add narrative, structural, and processual detail to our descriptions of past worlds. However, we have paid insufficient attention to the semiotic relationships between texts and archaeological sites – i.e., how both of these sets of media reflect and construct reality in distinct ways. In this essay, I examine sites and landscapes that emerged through forced resettlement in the lower Zaña and Chamán valleys, in Peru’s north coast region, during the late 16th century AD. In doing so, I present several ideas about how we might rethink the comparison and synthesis of textual and archaeological evidence in the study of the Andean past. Specifically, I call attention to the performative dimensions of both reducción sites and visita documents and underscore their role in colonial ethnogenesis.