Andean Cosmologies Through Time: Persistence and Emergence

Concerned with Andean cosmology both as the manifestation of a system of belief and as a way of thinking or worldview that orders the social environment, this volume advances an explanation of why Andean indigenous communities are still recognizably Andean after a half-millennium of forced exposure to Western systems of thought and belief. Dealing with cultural authenticity in an Andean context, the essays describe a process facilitated by a cosmology which readily integrates the accoutrements of non-Andean community. At issue is not so much what is authentic but, rather, how it is perceived to be authentic and how it is so maintained. The nine authors explore a model in which a consistent and persistent cosmological discourse leads, not to an emergent social order, but to a social order which continually emerges as a peculiarly Andean phenomenon.

• | Author: Robert V. H. Dover
• | Publisher: Indiana University Press (Ips)
• | Publication Date: Jan 01, 1992
• | Number of Pages: 288 pages
• | Binding: Hardback or Cased Book
• | ISBN-10: 0253318157
• | ISBN-13: 9780253318152