Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Map
1 Native Gods and Missionaries
2 Blas Valera: His Life and “Crimes”
3 Sources
Notes Concerning This Translation
Blas Valera, An Account of the Ancient Customs of the Natives of Peru
Appendix
Glossary of Quechua Terms
Works Cited
Index
Sabine Hyland is Associate Professor of Anthropology at St. Norbert College.
“This work is an exciting addition to the field. It presents a
source hitherto unavailable in English; it illustrates aspects of
Spanish views of Andean religion that are often neglected; and it
considers issues of great contemporary relevance, such as the
problem of translation of Christian concepts into native languages.
Both the translation and the accompanying substantial commentary
are highly readable, and therefore suitable for undergraduate
readers and the general reader. This is a scholarly, original, and
interesting work.”—Nicholas Griffiths,University of Birmingham
“Not all Spanish missionaries were out to extinguish native Andean
religious practices and concepts as works of the devil. Sabine
Hyland has focused on an extraordinary mestizo Jesuit, Blas Valera,
whose highly sympathetic and perceptive account of the Inca gods
and worldview has been vividly brought to life by her excellent
translation. This is a major contribution to Andean history and
anthropology.”—Michael D. Coe,Yale University
“This translation of An Account of the Ancient Customs of the
Natives of Peru is a wonderful addition to the corpus of
meticulously edited colonial chronicles available in English. The
lengthy and careful treatment of Andean religion by the Jesuit
priest Blas Valera is distinctive and fascinating, and its
importance is enhanced by our knowledge that, unlike many
chroniclers, Valera spoke and understood Quechua and was exposed to
native religious customs in several areas. Sabine Hyland’s
discussion of the life and writings of Valera successfully provides
the cultural and historical context for the manuscript and greatly
enriches the volume. I strongly recommend it to all scholars
attempting to understand pre-Hispanic Andean religion and the early
efforts of Christian missionaries.”—Richard Burger,Yale
University
“Sabine Hyland’s book revives a defiant voice from the Americas’
past. By 1594 the last generation born under Inca rule was dying
off. A burgeoning colonial clergy was teaching that the ‘Indian’s’
sacred tradition had been nothing but a diabolical fraud. But even
as the clergy geared up for ‘extirpation,’ some dissenters boldly
claimed that Inca religion included insights into true divinity.
One of these dissenters—the anonymous Jesuit whom Hyland identifies
as the half-Inca Blas Valera—in 1594 took his stand by combining
memories of his mother’s Inca culture with a challenge to colonial
power. Hyland’s translation brings to life one vital indigenous
source of the New World’s human-rights tradition.”—Frank
Salomon,University of Wisconsin–Madison
“[Gods of the Andes] is the ideal supplement and counterpoint to
university courses on colonial history of the Americas or early
modern religion. . . . This slim volume is positioned to handily
prove the wide diversity of religious views held in
sixteenth-century Peru, among the Jesuits as well as among Andean
converts.”—Karin A. Vélez Renaissance Quarterly
“Hyland’s translation is as readable as it is faithful to the
original, and has the added advantage of coming with a helpful
scholarly introduction, unobtrusive annotations, and a glossary of
quechua terms. It is a most welcome companion to her excellent
monograph on Valera, The Jesuit and the Incas (2003), and an
indispensable primary source which will be enjoyed as much by
scholars as by general readers.”—Fernando Cervantes Journal of
Ecclesiastical History
“This is a fascinating and sometimes poignant text with much of
interest for ethnographers, anthropologists, historians of
religion, and cultural and political theorists. All these will find
food for thought in this excellent translation and essay by Sabine
Hyland. . . . This small book deserves a place on many
bookshelves.”—Lesley J. Pattinson Sixteenth Century Journal
Ask a Question About this Product More... |