1970 The Idea of History in Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala
1970 The Idea of History in Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala
1970 The Idea of History in Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala
nnoc=manus_pub&p_Manusd=65&p_Lang=main
Juan M. Ossio
The Idea of History in FeIipe Guaman Poma de AyaIa, 1970
Introductory note by Rolena Adorno
n170JuanM.Ossiopresentedhis.Litt.thesisatOxfordUniversitunderthetitle
"ThedeaofHistorinFelipeGuamanPomadeAala.Hismonographinauguratedanew
erainthestudofElprimernuevacornicabuengobiernobecauseOssiotookashis
objectofanalsistheworkassuchconcentratingonits internal coherenceratherthan
consideringitasonesourceofinformationamongmanothers.Theinternalcoherenceof
theworkwaspreciselwhatinterestedOssiobecauseasheexplainsattheoutset(pp.xi-
xii)hispurposewastoinvestigatetheAndeanrepresentationofthepastinordertobe
able to present a new perspective from which to evaluate information of indigenous
AndeanoriginthatappearedintheSpanishchroniclesofthesixteenthandseventeenth
centuries.ThushetookashispointofdepartureanindividualFelipeGuamanPomade
AalaandhisworktheNuevacornicabuengobiernobothofwhichwereanchoredin
a specific time and place. This permitted Ossio to take into account the historical
contingencies that affected the wa inwhich Guaman Poma conceived thepast at the
same time as it offered the possibilit of drawing more general conclusions about the
autochthonousvisionoftheAndeanpast.
Ossio's thesis soon became an indispensible reference work on Andean
conceptualiationsoftimeandspaceandprinciplesoforderandhierarch.Oneofthe
most notable and immediate examples of its impact is found in the stud b Nathan
achtel the well known historian and anthropologist at the ollge de France who
publishedin171inParis(Gallimard)Lavisiondesvaincus:LesndiensduProudevant
laonquteespagnole(150-1570)LosindiosdelPer frentealaconquistaespaola
(150-1570) Madrid Aliana 176.achtel cites Ossio frequentl on concepts
elaborated b Guaman Poma and he reproduces one of the schematic drawings that
Ossio created in his own stud (p. 10) to represent one of Guaman Poma's spatial
conceptualiations.nsubsequentstudiespublishedinPeruandtheUnitedStatesOssio
developedtheargumentsthathepresentedforthefirsttimeinhisOxfordthesiswhich
remainsunpublishedtothisda.ecauseofthepioneeringvalueofOssio'smonographin
GuamanPomastudiesaswellasitsinaccessibilittothepublicofinterestedreadersthe
oalLibrarwiththecollaborationoftheauthorhasthepleasureofpresentingitonthis
website.