El mesianismo y la semiotica indigena en el Alto Peru: La gran rebelion de 1780-1781 (review)

This new book on the famous and often studied late colonial Indian uprising in the Andes is relevant mainly because it concentrates in the southern area of Charcas, where the rebellion, led by Tomás Catari and his brothers, started half a year before the Tungasuca events, and probably without a link with Tupac Amaru, who at the time was locally unknown. Although after November 1780 the references to the Cusco leader became common, and his uprising was substantial for the spread of the movement also in southern Charcas, references to the Catari brothers remained important, especially from the Indian point of view.

The bibliography displays abundant primary documentation from the Sucre and Sevilla archives--strangely ordered alphabetically according to the first word of the document--which provides many factual details on the whole movement in that area as well as on the motivations and local interpretations of the actors, especially in its first part (pp. 19-99). However, it seems that the author did not have access to the clarifying manuscripts of Ignacio Flores, made available to the MUSEF in La Paz by Danielle Demelas, and previously used in the thesis of Patricia Hutchins on the same area of Charcas.

The second part of the book (pp. 101-168) is a nativist millenarian interpretation of the movement, including for this purpose additional material from other areas such as Oruro, La Paz, and even Cusco. This part emphasizes the destruction of the previous order, such as the massive (and often times ritualized) killing of white people, the imposition of Indian cloth upon the survivors, the growing radicalization against priests and Christian symbols, specially at the grassroots, or--from the other perspective--the influence of some Andean myths and prophecies. Robins is not the first one to stress these aspects (see, for instance, Hidalgo 1983), but Robins adds some new information without providing a significantly new interpretation.

Unfortunately both the translation and the editing are very poor. Besides numerous misprints and mistranslations, the reader must remain constantly alert for other major mishaps. In the introduction on we find the word antimonio (a well known local mineral) systematically instead of antinomia (antinomy), even in the title of chapter 8. Then amaristas (that is, related with Tupac Amaru) become ayrnaristas, related with the Ayrnara ethnic group (p. 25). In page 169 it is said that Tomás Catari went to Buenos Aires "a petición del virrey" instead of "a pedir al virrey," etc. Changes in names some times go beyond misspelling and can lead to quite mistaken interpretations. For instance, in page 57 it is said that the Carangas province was the cradle of the Peru and Upper Peru rebellion; but it should read Chayanta. Francisco Xavier Condori appears as the Franciscan friar Xavier Condori (p. 79). According to page 169, on November 13 (not 14), 1781, Tomás Catari was executed (not Tupac Catari). Some mistakes should not be blamed on the editors but on the author; for instance, when he assumes that Tinquipaya (in Potosí) is part of Cochabamba (pp. 84-85, 124).

All, myself included, accept that in our countries it is better to have new research available soon even with poor editing rather than to keep waiting years for an accurate publication that never arrives. Since this book has a lot of useful new material, the author would do well to prepare another Spanish edition that meets acceptable standards.