The role of specialized production in imperial contexts: the production of tableware as an example of the Inca and Hispanic vice royal periods in the Central and South-Central Andes
This article presents an overview of the production of material culture during Tawantinsuyu rule and that of the Spanish Empire in the Andes, emphasizing the comparison between specialized activities. In both moments of imperial rule, the most controlled activities were those that produced services, goods and / or vital raw materials for the development of political, religious and administrative ceremonies. In these contexts, each empire shows a particular aesthetic that contributes with its own legitimization within the new colonial society. Consequently, as agents of the reproduction of the colonial system, these trades and activities were a strategic focus of governmental (or colonial) control. Therefore, specialists were forced to concentrate on administrative centers and service villages close to the conditions and raw materials, and the sources of consumption in ceremonial, religious and / or political contexts. The main differences between Tawantinsuyu’s productive systems and those of the Spanish viceroyalty are related to the cultural logics underlying each imperial entity. A good example of the above is the production of pottery, whose transformations of use and distribution are expressive of some of the mentioned aspects.
Keywords:
specialized production, empires, tableware, pottery, Andes
Soto, C., & Aguilar, M. (2019). The role of specialized production in imperial contexts: the production of tableware as an example of the Inca and Hispanic vice royal periods in the Central and South-Central Andes. Revista Chilena De Antropología, (40), 305–332. Retrieved from https://tribunainternacional.uchile.cl/index.php/RCA/article/view/55856
