Los pastores andinos: una propuesta de lectura de su historia. Ensayo bibliográfico de etnografía e historia

Abstract

Following Khazanov, I propose that pastoralism is a type of society that has high mobility and a periodic relationship with the «outside world». Pastoralism is an alternative to the agricultural, sedentary and urbanized societies. How was this pastoralism in the Andean past? To answer this question I take a balanced approach based on the anthropological and historical studies of the subject, putting particular emphasis on what I consider is central to pastoralism: mobility and exchange. Studies of Andean pastoralism can be organized in two cycles: the first from 1964 to 1983 that opens this issue to the Andean reality and the second, 1983 to 2003, when the studies are focused on Bolivia and Northern Argentina. Within this framework I evaluate the tools for this study. As a working hypothesis I propose that Andean shepherds constitute a sector of Andean society with two essential characteristics: 1) great mobility, and 2) although they are seen as a profoundly traditional group, they are -because of their mobility- cultural mediators par excellence

Keywords

• shepherds
• andean pastoralism
• caravans
• llama breeders
• mobility and exchange
• cultural mediators