Corpus: Archivos Virtuales de la Alteridad Americana (Jun 2021)

Andes imaginarios. El mundo precolombino y Oriente en algunos ensayos del indianismo argentino

  • Alejandra Mailhe

DOI
https://doi.org/10.4000/corpusarchivos.4449
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 1

Abstract

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This work explores the imaginary gravitation of the Orient and Antiquity in some visions about the Andean world, produced between the end of the 19th century and the beginnings of the 20th century. It analyses the connections established by some intellectuals between the indigenous heritage and the “Indo-European” past, firstly in the generation of romantic Indianists, then in authors related to spiritualism at the turn of 20th century, and finally during the crisis that followed the First World War. In Argentina, authors such as Vicente Fidel López and Henri Girgois highlight the links between the Andean world and the Orient, based on remote cultural contacts and similar manners to conceptualize the world. Starting from Les races aryennes du Pérou (1871) by Vicente Fidel López, this article particularly dwells on the essay El oculto entre los aborígenes de América del Sur (1901) by Henri Girgois, itself strongly influenced by López´s aforementioned study, which has hardly been approached from a critical perspective. Besides, the article purports to contrast both essays with José Imbelloni’s, who refutes this kind of speculations, defending in contrast the validity of scientific anthropology. Ultimately, the present work aims at throwing light into the esoteric assumptions of Argentine Indianism later continued by important authors such as Ricardo Rojas during the twenties and thirties.

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