Abstract

This essay posits certain political-philosophical perspectives on the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega’s Primera parte de los Comentarios reales de los Incas (1609). To this purpose we will develop two hermeneutical movements. The first refers to a theoretical and methodological questioning related to the notion of Indian as a discursive construction during colonial times in the Andes area. The second deploys a critical exercise grounded on the interaction between the notions of Indian, Inca, and Mestizo, which is focused on how they build alternative subjectivities. Both movements consolidate an interpretation about the Inca Garcilaso’s political-philosophical reflections, remarking his proposals of a bifurcated modern civilizational project in the New World.

Abstract

The article analyzes the onomastics of the Indian characters, the portrayal of the Inca Empire of Huáscar and Atahualpa, and the Christianization of Guacolda and Yupangui in Calderón’s La Aurora en Copacabana. Rational and proactive, these two characters realize the illegitimacy of the Inca idolatry and embrace the true religion, long before the formal start of Perú’s christianization. Thus, it is argued that this specific representation of the Indian may have been influenced by the close circles indianos of Miguel de Aguirre, who allegedly patronized this comedy.