Un imperio en movimiento: género, movilidad femenina y acllas en el Tahuantinsuyo (1400 - 1532 d. C.)

Abstract

Numerous studies have explored mobility along the Qhapaq Ñan. Most of them examine how the road influenced local, regional, and imperial dynamics by fostering exchange relationships and connecting societies, people, and territories. These investigations explicitly or implicitly assume that it was male individuals who mobilized to build the Tahuantinsuyo, while women remained within the domestic unit or were confined to imperial buildings. In this study, we seek to acknowledge potential patterns of women’s mobility as part of female collectives, including those identified as acllas (chosen ones) or mamaconas (matrons) within the Tahuantinsuyo territory, through a gender perspective. We do so by drawing on five cases supported by biogenetic data and published textile analysis, as well as ethnohistorical data from Inca llacta cemeteries and capacocha ritual events (a ritual of obligation to the Inca state where infants were offered). We identified modes of movement that consider the distance traveled, the age of female individuals, and the political motives framing each activity, and which, in turn, construct identity, Finally, our analysis indicates that the visualization and analysis of individuals’ mobility experiences are associated with types of movement related to local, regional, or imperial political interests that reveal certain logics of movement that have been hidden, in this case, those of female experiences within the Tahuantinsuyo.

Keywords

• acllas
• female mobility
• gender
• mamaconas
• qhapaq ñan