Swimming betwixt two waters: the Qhapaq Ñan project - National Office (2013-2018) and the management of heritage from within the State

Abstract

This article posits that those who manage archaeological heritage and work in the peruvian State find themselves immersed in an inherently contradictory position. On one hand we still believe that the management of heritage lies in our hands. On the other hand we demand —under the influence of postcolonial, decolonial and critical heritage positions— greater participation; a break with the hegemonic State discourses; and that heritage ceases being a vehicle of exclusion. The main issue is: how can the archaeological heritage be managed in a professional way, engendering well-being and meaning, without falling into its manipulation by the State, or turning it instead into a vehicle of hegemonic power and dispossession at the local level? We reflect upon this contradiction based on our experience with the Qhapaq Ñan Project - National Office in the Ministry of Culture in 2013-2018. We thus posit that there is no need to deny or conceal our role as State officials, nor to abandon the idea of the local-level and/or the emphasis on participative management, and that heritage should instead be understood as a public space where actors and their processes meet and talk. The role of State management is to ensure all of these actors participate through the adoption of the conceptual frameworks of co-creation used in other disciplines.