Home-making among South Andean pastoralists

Abstract

In this paper I argue that in order to understand how Andean pastoralists develop places for themselves and their flocks in communally owned land ?a home to live with their llamas? it is necessary to consider, not only their interactions with other people (e.g., other herders), but also with important non-human persons such as mountains (Mallkus), the llamas themselves, and certain animated artifacts, like houses or pastoral/caravan gear (bags, ropes, bells). Only when these entities are considered as full members of society, what pastoralists do, the landscapes they reproduce, and their archaeological record become intelligible. Moreover, I believe that rituals offer a privileged opportunity for exploring these ?senses of place? (Feld and Basso 1996:11) through materiality because non-human agents are explicitly addressed in these practices, so they are repeatedly indexed by ritual gestures.