Andean Cosmologies Through Time

<p>Concerned with Andean cosmology both as the manifestation of a system of belief and as a way of thinking or worldview that orders the social environment this volume advances an explanation of why Andean indigenous communities are still recognizably Andean after a half-millennium of forced exposure to Western systems of thought and belief. Dealing with cultural authenticity in an Andean context the essays describe a process facilitated by a cosmology which readily integrates the accoutrements of non-Andean community. At issue is not so much what is authentic but rather how it is perceived to be authentic and how it is so maintained. The nine authors explore a model in which a consistent and persistent cosmological discourse leads not to an emergent social order but to a social order which continually emerges as a peculiarly Andean phenomenon.</p>