Political Economy, Ethnogenesis, and Language Dispersals in the Prehispanic Andes: A World‐System Perspective

Abstract

In this article, I argue, first, that a world-system perspective can illuminate the role of prestigious trade goods such as Spondylus in the reproduction of pre-Hispanic Andean societies and the significance of their procurement for the course of Andean prehistory. Second, I argue that the successive dispersals of major Andean languages (Aymara, Quechua, Pukina) reflect the establishment of prestigious lingua francas integrating such systems of long-distance exchange. Political, agricultural, stylistic, and linguistic expansions in prehistory are interpreted as reflections of the integration of regional and interregional systems of exchange and interaction. The theoretical framework of world-system analysis is shown not only to be applicable to the shifting economic and political geography of the pre-Hispanic Andes but also to help account for a range of cultural phenomena that are generally not viewed from this perspective, including familiar details of Inca history such as Cuzco's relations to preexisting languages and ethnic identities. Rather than viewing the emergence of linguistic, stylistic, and other identity-related homogeneities as consequences of political unification, I suggest that ethnolinguistic integration may precede efforts at political control. [political economy, pre-Hispanic Andes, language dispersals, Inca history, ethnicity] RESUMEN En este artículo, argumento, primero, que una perspectiva de sistema-mundo puede iluminar el papel de bienes prestigiosos de comercio como el Spondylus en la reproducción de sociedades prehispánicas andinas y el significado de su adquisición para el rumbo de la prehistoria andina. Segundo, argumento que las sucesivas dispersiones de lenguajes andinos mayores (Aymara, Quechua, Pukina) reflejan el establecimiento de prestigiosas lenguas francas integrando tales sistemas de intercambio a largas distancias. Expansiones políticas, agrícolas, estilísticas y lingüísticas en prehistoria son interpretadas como reflejos de la integración regional e interregional de sistemas de intercambio e interacción. El marco teórico del análisis de sistema-mundo muestra no solo ser aplicable a la cambiante geografía económica y política de los Andes prehispánicos sino también ayuda a explicar una variedad de fenómenos culturales que son generalmente no vistos desdeésta perspectiva, incluyendo detalles conocidos de la historia Inca tales como las relaciones del Cuzco con lenguajes pre-existentes e identidadesétnicas.Más que ver el surgimiento de homogeneidades relacionadas con identidades lingüísticas, estilísticas y otras, como consecuencias de unificación política, sugiero que la integración etnolingüística puede preceder esfuerzos de control político. [economía política, Andes prehispánicos, dispersiones de lenguajes, historia Inca, etnicidad]

Interregional Obsidian Exchange During the Late Initial Period and Early Horizon: New Perspectives From Campanayuq Rumi, Peru

“…Recent research suggests that the Chavín Interaction Sphere partly drove the expansion of Aymara, which may have served as a prestigious and/or religious lingua franca spoken over a wide swath of highland Peru during the Early Horizon (cf. Burger 2012; Heggarty and Beresford-Jones 2010; Hornborg 2014).…”

Regional Interactions between California and the Southwest: The Western Edge of the North American Continental System

“…). Numerous recent studies have applied Wallerstein's ideas to archaeological case studies from around the world (e.g., Algaze ; Hornborg ).…”

Integrating Mythological, Archaeological, and Linguistic Approaches to Understand Complementary Oppositional Structures of the Spondylus Exchange System

“…Heggarty andBeresford-Jones (2010, 2012) associate the Aymara-and Quechua-language expansions with the Chavín and Wari political expansions, respectively (Hornborg 2014: 816, 817). However, Hornborg (2014) suggests that the diffusions of Aymara-and Quechua-language families were likely taking place former to the political expansions (817) because the "the successive expansions of Andean languages reflect the establishment of prestigious lingua francas 74 integrating such systems of long-distance exchange, which facilitated, rather than merely resulted from, political strategies to promote collective experiences of reciprocity and ethnic connectedness" (810, 11).…”

“…similar to the long-distance movement of South American coastal items, such as Spondylus, into the highland regions. As described earlier, the Aymara-language family expansion into the highland region began in the Early Horizon period that dates from 900 to 200 BC (Hornborg 2014: 16 [Heggarty and Beresford-Jones 2010). This expansion may be correlated to the growth of camelid pastoralism and the custom of llama caravans for long-distance systems of exchange (Hornborg 2014: 816 [Heggarty& Beresford-Jones 2010).…”

“…Urton's model is useful. I would argue that Aymara-and Quechua-language distributions are possibly correlated to: 1) larger, long-distant exchange systems (Hornborg 2014) of Tarama-Chinchaycocha (Urton 2012: 327, 330) suggest that the Aymara-speaking people and Quechua-speaking people within the central Andes settled in two separate ecological landscapes within this region and adapted accordingly to their landscape (Urton 2012: 327, 330).…”