(Ebook) Ancient Alterity in the Andes by George F. Lau ISBN 9780415519229, 0415519225

(Ebook) Ancient Alterity in the Andes by George F. Lau ISBN 9780415519229, 0415519225

Ancient Alterity in the Andes
is the first major treatment on ancient alterity: how people in the
past regarded others. At least since the 1970s, alterity has been an
influential concept in different fields, from art history, psychology
and philosophy, to linguistics and ethnography. Having gained steam in
concert with postmodernism’s emphasis on self-reflection and discourse,
it is especially significant now as a framework to understand the
process of ‘writing’ and understanding the Other: groups, cultures and
cosmologies. This book showcases this concept by illustrating how people
visualised others in the past, and how it coloured their engagements
with them, both physically and cognitively.

Alterity has yet to
see sustained treatment in archaeology due in great part to the fact
that the archaeological record is not always equipped to inform on the
subject. Like its kindred concepts, such as identity and ethnicity,
alterity is difficult to observe also because it can be expressed at
different times and scales, from the individual, family and village
settings, to contexts such as nations and empires. It can also be said
to ‘reside’ just as well in objects and individuals, as it may in a
technique, action or performance. One requires a relevant, holistic data
set and multiple lines of evidence. Ancient Alterity in the Andes
provides just that by focusing on the great achievements of the ancient
Andes during the first millennium AD, centred on a Precolumbian
culture, known as Recuay (AD 1-700).

Using a new framework of
alterity, one based on social others (e.g., kinsfolk, animals,
predators, enemies, ancestral dead), the book rethinks cultural
relationships with other groups, including the Moche and Nasca
civilisations of Peru’s coast, the Chavín cult, and the later Wari, the
first Andean empire. In revealing little known patterns in Andean
prehistory the book illuminates the ways that archaeologists, in
general, can examine alterity through the existing record. Ancient Alterity in the Andes
is a substantial boon to the analysis and writing of past cultures,
social systems and cosmologies and an important book for those wishing
to understand this developing concept in archaeological theory.