Allies at Odds: The Andean Church and Its Indigenous Agents, 1583-1671 (review)

Here is an outstanding analysis of the process of the linguistic and religious transformation of early-colonial Andean society. Stress is on the Christian doctrineros and the indigenous elite, who acted as agents, allies, and at times antagonists in the formation of the new order. Well-constructed and elegantly written chapters broken into short subsections allow for a quick read. In the introduction John Charles examines the intractable question of how to measure "literacy" in the Andean context. The role of teachers and their native Andean students, as well as the sources and their preparation that contributed to the "making of a literate Andean society" (p. 13), are probed.

In the chapter "Catechesis in Quechua," the creation of a "standard Quechua," almost entirely by the doctrineros, is examined. In their methodical efforts religious compiled dictionaries and grammars, then translated the critical religious texts into Andeans' tongues. In this process they developed a Quechua with broad application to avoid confusion between multiple translations based on regional dialects. Charles moves in the next chapter to what he calls "mediating with cords" (p. 71)—the use of the precolumbian khipu well into the colonial period. Many specialists thought the knotted multicolored cords were used to record quantities, but there is increasing recognition that they had other uses as well. Although many clerics viewed them as idolatrous objects, they were employed in confession and in remembering elements of the doctrine, and were even presented as evidence in colonial courts.

Charles next shifts to clerical violence used to subject native parishioners to the doctrina so as to enforce the Crown's buena policia to mold Andeans into good citizens. We have few true Andean responses to the actions of clergy other than in letters of complaint to the Audiencia and viceroy in Lima, and even the Crown in Spain. Charles effectively presents case studies to suggest a complex picture of colonial realities in the countryside. He finds that rivalries between Andean elite families contributed to machinations as they tried to improve status. The subsequent chapter centers on idolatry, largely through the eyes of the Andeans. Charles asks: Did they understand what the clergy considered idolatry, and how did they react? What led to Andean complicity in the investigations of religious inspectors, and what were the consequences? Who denounced idolatry, and what did they gain or lose by denunciations? Charles's final chapter on "the polemics of practical literacy" covers a range of topics, from the role of the official "Indian Protector" to the native mastery of the legal genre and the clerical backlash.

Minor imperfections—some missing source citations, an incomplete index, the absence of a glossary—are perhaps more the result of the publisher's decision to conserve space. But the emphasis on the area under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Lima and Quechua speakers comes at the cost of scant attention to the vast central-southern Andes where both Quechua and Aymara were spoken. But this would have required a book twice as long. Another issue deserving more scrutiny is the provenance of translations of the religious texts, dictionaries, and grammars. Many of these were distributed in manuscript often long before they were published. Because multiple reviewers from various religious orders and the secular clergy had access to the manuscripts, what impact did that have on later publications? As we know,"borrowing" without attribution was common during the period.

Charles's work is an important complement to a small but growing number of recent studies of the process of "conversion" of Amerindian peoples. Recently Alan Durston, Angel Ramos, and Juan Carlos Estenssoro Fuchs have followed the lead of Pierre Duviols, Sabine MacCormack, Kenneth Mills, and Nicolas Griffiths in their studies of the religious and cultural interactions in the Andes. This is part of a new religious history—not the study of the successful implanting of...