While reading The 7 Interpretive Essays on Peruvian Reality by Joe Carlos Mariatagui, I was frustrated to continually hear about Spanish colonialists disrupted and fumbled Indigenous civilizations. Mariategui illustrates how colonialists consistently imposed their ideologies and agendas on indigenous communities under the guise that they knew what was best for them which exudes a suffocating air of superiority and paternalism.
Emily, I really appreciate the depth and insight in your blog post. Your analysis of Mariategui’s critique on Spanish colonialism vividly illustrates the detrimental impact of colonial policies on Indigenous communities in Peru, highlighting the importance of preserving traditional ways of life and recognising the value in different societal systems.
You mentioned how the Spanish destroyed a productive machine without anything to replace it which has some irony to it. The Spanish talked such a big game about how they were a better and more advanced civilization and how the indigenous needed their guidance. Well actually it would appear that the indigenous were doing more than fine. It was the Spanish who were the screw ups, coming in and causing all the issues.
Thank you for sharing your insights about colonial vs. traditional (other) practices! I also enjoyed our visit to the Waldorf school and thought of all of the benefits of sending my own children to a school with similar pedagogical philosophies. I think there are huge social and psychological benefits to be gained from learning in a way that emphasizes the value of reciprocal practices with both land and people. I was a bit discouraged that I felt the need to consider whether or not these tool would sufficiently equip my kids to 'succeed' in the current socio-economic climate of today.
Damn straight. I love the critics imbedded in this blog post. I sense a questioning around time, specifically, comparing the relaxed and pleasant communal (but also Authoritarian) societal structures of the Inca with the Spanish colonial structures which bleed into the capitalist extraction we live/work through contemporarily. Contracts NOT rooted in competition is a foreign idea...
Around the element of time, I would share that I feel stress and anxiety and general unhealthy operating systems are proved when time shrinks, speeds up, and is ultimately taken from us.
Thinking about the people who are offered the education system at Kusi Kawsay, about the time it takes the work on a weaving, the slowing down of productive activity. I imagine that they learn much more than just weaving from their weaving teacher and from each other during the hours and days this section of schooling is in session. We might not have take the time for such learning. How foreign might the pace of unending tasks and tributes to the capitalist system be for students participating in Andean pedagogy? I'm musing here and ideating towards de-coloinal thinking that Mariategui is indirectly mentioning.
Although Mariategui speaks primarily in economic terms, I also found myself drawn to ideological themes in the text. I think there is a way how either economics depends on ideology, or ideology depends on economics- there's different arguments to be made. The connection to the Waldorf school is interesting because it pays real attention to not making any sort of imposition while still remaining pedagogical. It definitely wasn't a coincidence that they mentioned this fact about their school proudly.
"Mariategui illustrates how colonialists consistently imposed their ideologies and agendas on indigenous communities under the guise that they knew what was best for them."
I'm really not sure about this... can you cite a page where he says this? In fact, to me he seems to be saying quite the opposite: that Spanish imperialism was *not* about politics or ideology, but about economics. Here, for instance: "The Spanish Empire sank into oblivion because it did not rest on military and political foundations and, especially, because it represented an outdated economy" (8). This materialism seems to me (as I said last night) a crucial foundation of Mariategui's thought.
Also be careful not to confuse the colonial era with the republican one. For Mariategui, they are quite different (even though there are fundamental continuities).
PS, though this is less important: the school is Waldorf, not Montessori.
Hi Jon, your comment seems to assume that the economic system that the Spanish empire imposed is not an ideology nor agenda; feudalism is intrinsically linked to individualism and western liberalism after all. Obviously, just because the empire did not have military and political foundations does not mean that the preexisting Incan structures were not destroyed, furthermore doesn't the destruction of previous political and militaristic ways of life enforce that those such Incan ideologies were inadequate? Even their specific methods of rejecting Incan technology imposed this ideology that Spanish technology were just better. Mariategui also consitently frames the text in a socio-economic standpoint thereby implying that politics, sociological structures, and the economy are intristically intertwined (p. 51) — though his essay is directed towards the struggles of the Peruvian Indigenous peoples, I don't think he would take as purely materialistic of an approach to the motives of the Spanish colonizers, as you seem to imply above.
Emily, I really appreciate the depth and insight in your blog post. Your analysis of Mariategui’s critique on Spanish colonialism vividly illustrates the detrimental impact of colonial policies on Indigenous communities in Peru, highlighting the importance of preserving traditional ways of life and recognising the value in different societal systems.
You mentioned how the Spanish destroyed a productive machine without anything to replace it which has some irony to it. The Spanish talked such a big game about how they were a better and more advanced civilization and how the indigenous needed their guidance. Well actually it would appear that the indigenous were doing more than fine. It was the Spanish who were the screw ups, coming in and causing all the issues.
Hi Emily:)
Thank you for sharing your insights about colonial vs. traditional (other) practices! I also enjoyed our visit to the Waldorf school and thought of all of the benefits of sending my own children to a school with similar pedagogical philosophies. I think there are huge social and psychological benefits to be gained from learning in a way that emphasizes the value of reciprocal practices with both land and people. I was a bit discouraged that I felt the need to consider whether or not these tool would sufficiently equip my kids to 'succeed' in the current socio-economic climate of today.
Damn straight. I love the critics imbedded in this blog post. I sense a questioning around time, specifically, comparing the relaxed and pleasant communal (but also Authoritarian) societal structures of the Inca with the Spanish colonial structures which bleed into the capitalist extraction we live/work through contemporarily. Contracts NOT rooted in competition is a foreign idea...
Around the element of time, I would share that I feel stress and anxiety and general unhealthy operating systems are proved when time shrinks, speeds up, and is ultimately taken from us.
Thinking about the people who are offered the education system at Kusi Kawsay, about the time it takes the work on a weaving, the slowing down of productive activity. I imagine that they learn much more than just weaving from their weaving teacher and from each other during the hours and days this section of schooling is in session. We might not have take the time for such learning. How foreign might the pace of unending tasks and tributes to the capitalist system be for students participating in Andean pedagogy? I'm musing here and ideating towards de-coloinal thinking that Mariategui is indirectly mentioning.
Hi Emily,
Although Mariategui speaks primarily in economic terms, I also found myself drawn to ideological themes in the text. I think there is a way how either economics depends on ideology, or ideology depends on economics- there's different arguments to be made. The connection to the Waldorf school is interesting because it pays real attention to not making any sort of imposition while still remaining pedagogical. It definitely wasn't a coincidence that they mentioned this fact about their school proudly.
Gabriel
"Mariategui illustrates how colonialists consistently imposed their ideologies and agendas on indigenous communities under the guise that they knew what was best for them."
I'm really not sure about this... can you cite a page where he says this? In fact, to me he seems to be saying quite the opposite: that Spanish imperialism was *not* about politics or ideology, but about economics. Here, for instance: "The Spanish Empire sank into oblivion because it did not rest on military and political foundations and, especially, because it represented an outdated economy" (8). This materialism seems to me (as I said last night) a crucial foundation of Mariategui's thought.
Also be careful not to confuse the colonial era with the republican one. For Mariategui, they are quite different (even though there are fundamental continuities).
PS, though this is less important: the school is Waldorf, not Montessori.
Hi Jon, your comment seems to assume that the economic system that the Spanish empire imposed is not an ideology nor agenda; feudalism is intrinsically linked to individualism and western liberalism after all. Obviously, just because the empire did not have military and political foundations does not mean that the preexisting Incan structures were not destroyed, furthermore doesn't the destruction of previous political and militaristic ways of life enforce that those such Incan ideologies were inadequate? Even their specific methods of rejecting Incan technology imposed this ideology that Spanish technology were just better. Mariategui also consitently frames the text in a socio-economic standpoint thereby implying that politics, sociological structures, and the economy are intristically intertwined (p. 51) — though his essay is directed towards the struggles of the Peruvian Indigenous peoples, I don't think he would take as purely materialistic of an approach to the motives of the Spanish colonizers, as you seem to imply above.
- Annie & Cissy