Summary
The archaeological site of Chinchero, in the Peruvian Highlands, has long been the stage of intercultural struggles and frictions for its control. Since its declaration as Cultural Heritage of the Nation in 2002, it has been subject to hegemonic heritage policies and conservation practices that reflect “universal” values. These values leave little room for alternative approaches to management held by Quechua-speaking community members, approaches rooted in tradition as well as in a different sense of temporality and historicity.In order to bridge the intercultural gap between site authorities, authorised discourses and practices, and community members, one possibility would be to reframe – both conceptually and legally – the site as a cultural landscape, within the larger cultural itinerary of the Qhapac Ñan, within which Chinchero is included. Such characterization echoes the intimate, interdependent ties between humans, non-humans, and the “natural world”, ties not sufficiently emphasized in the aseptic notion of “site”. Assuming that the category of cultural landscape would allow for the introduction of indigenous ontologies and temporalities in the site’s management, a question to be asked is: What would this shift imply in terms of moving toward new models of cultural heritage management more attuned to local heritage values and traditions of care?To answer this question, this paper looks at the Quechua category of muyuy as a key principle of territorial planning, social organization, and time conceptualization that can be successfully applied in the search for a new landscape and community-based protection paradigm more respectful and inclusive of intercultural dynamics.
Keywords
Indigenous heritage landscapes. Interculturality. Conservation. Temporality.