Further Study
Guaman Poma's letter is
rich in history and ethnography.
It leads in so many directions that early in this project I became aware of
my inadequacy to deal with the issues it raised.
It requires a greater knowledge of Poma's social context than I possess.
With the deadline for this paper approaching,
I would like to suggest several directions for further study:
- Study Poma's historical context, Andean society in central Peru
under the Incas and Spanish. Two studies
of this time and area look promising:
Spalding and
Stern. In addition, there is the more general
Conquest of the Incas by Hemming.
- Get a better grasp of the places and events of Poma's life.
I started to do this in The Author, but ran out
of time. It looks as if the
best sources, as usual, are in Spanish (for example,
Varallanos).
- Investigate the books and written materials
Poma might have seen.
What books might his half-brother Martin have showed him? I would assume
they would be religious books in Latin and Spanish.
What books would have been current in Peru of that time? What was the
state of literacy among the Spanish? How uniform was spelling and syntax?
- Investigate the personal experiences that might have influenced Poma.
For example, what would he have seen in the courts? What songs
or sermons might have influenced him?
- Investigate the quipu and oral tradition in general. What is known
about the quipu? I remember reading that not much is known about the
quipu, yet I saw a recent study on the quipu in the Stanford library.
What similarities are there between Poma's style and an oral storytelling
tradition?
- Investigate what is known about the worldview of the Andean Indians.
Are there any generalizations that can be made about dates,
attitudes towards society and tradition, conservativism vs innovation,
etc.
- Read more in Poma, especially in the
Spanish critical edition and the
facsimile edition.
- Read in the relevant literature in Spanish, for example,
Varallanos.
Beginning of document.