Rupert Medd Independent scholar, English Literature

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Rupert Medd Independent scholar,English
Literature Geography Teacher 35mm
Photography Music www.upbustleandout.co.uk
Nature and Knowledge in Latin America, May
22nd, London University.
Travel writing Latin America Peru environment natu
ral resources Indigenismo globalisation
Climate change The Polar Regions, Our
Oceans www.rupertmould.co.uk
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a socio-political "imaginary" constructed over
centuries by Europeans
With regards to The Americas, Christopher
Columbuss Diary (1492), that records his search
for a navigational route to the East was the
first travel text produced by a European
encountering Indigenous American Societies.
Spanish conquistador-chronicler, Pedro Cieza de
León (1520?1554?), is considered to have been
the first traveller to have written about Perus
flora and fauna and specific environments
Columbuss original Diary was handed personally
to Queen Isabel, who had a copy made for
Columbus. His original document was later lost.
What has survived to this day is a narration by
the Spanish friar Bartolomé de Las Casas in his
book Historia de Las Indias.
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Travel Narrativesgt Wakas and water, Julio César
Tello's spiritual poetics of archaeology. Publis
hed by Taylor and Francis in Studies in Travel
Writing, June 2015, Vol. 19.2
Julio C. Tello (1880 1947), Indigenous
archaeologist
ltThe field notes that comprised his book,
Arqueología de Cajamarca Expedición al Marañon
1937, being the northern region of the Marañon
River-basin, is the principle narrative I
analyse. It was a six month trip (June - December
1937) the purpose was to study the relations
between cultures of the northern littoral and the
adjoining Amazonia regions.
I focus on Tello's uncovering of antique water
channels - acequias and an aqueduct that inspired
water cults. This investigation led him toward an
alternative environmental conclusion that was
multi-functional.gt
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Tello's disturbing portrait on the reality of
conquest for Peru's Indigenous peoples
En este estado encontraron a los indígenas del
Perú los conquistadores españoles. Estos usos,
costumbres, hábitos, enfermedades, religión,
lengua, ideales y civilización en general,
completamente distintos de los de aquellos. Con
la conquista se produjo algo así como un gran
cataclismo que derrumbó, casi desde sus
cimientos, el edificio nacional que durante
muchos siglos había formado el genio indígena.
Los grandes canales y represas destinados a la
irrigación fueron abandonados, los caminos
destruidos, los templos saqueados y derrumbados,
la religión perseguida, las artes olvidades, la
población humillada y esclavizada.
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ltIn 1913 he was commissioned to accompany Dr Alex
Hrdlicka in his explorations throughout the
valleys of Huaura, Chancay, Chillón, Lima, Lurín,
Chilca y Mala. This took place during the same
period as the Yale University Expeditions (Hiram
Bingham) were exploring around Cusco. Peruvian
reporting on Machu Picchu was far less as
Peruvians were focusing on other significantly
older sites along the coast. This confirms that
parallel archaeological interests and
explorations were in progress by Peruvians
themselves.gt
His major discoveries were the Templo de Chavín
(Cerro Blanco, 1919), Napeña valley (1933), the
Casma Valley with findings in the Templos de
Pallka, Sechín Alto, Moxeke and Cerro Sechín.
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lt Indigenismo the official movement emerged with
the eleven-year presidency of Augusto B. Leguía,
(Oncenio r. 1919 1930), and survived
thereafter by reinventing itself. Incorporating
the Indigenous majority into a modernising nation
and creating a national society that would be
more accepting of its Indigenous people and
history were key aims. In short, the Indigenismo
movement during Tello's time is to be understood
as a socio-political movement in countries of
higher Indigenous populations.gt
Land that was once communal became private,
deeply altering ayllu social structures,
agriculture, the religious significance of both
land and Earth to Native life. This colonial
ideology was feudal, medieval and decidedly
outdated for modernising states of the 20th
century.
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ltOften the realities of fieldwork constraints
were simply lack of time, bad weather and
personnel - without any Nature-inspired
discourses of wonder - the literary forces behind
Binghams travel narration of his scientific
discovery of Machu Picchu (1911).gt
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Chavin de Huantar Temple
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The beauty of the Río Marañon
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The great irrigation canals and dams were
abandoned
ltHis narratives described how conquest disrupted
a philosophy of integral environmental relations,
especially regarding cults surrounding the
importance of water. This included the origins of
water, its purity, consumption, communal
celebration and veneration.
Acequias Colonialisms enforced restructuring of
land that deeply altered cultural geographies,
resulted in these ancient systems falling into
disrepair. The engineering works of the
Indigenous were neglected despite enough
chronicle evidence confirming admiration at such
achievements.gt
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National
celebration
ltPerus modernity was now more nuanced, being
enriched by the rediscovery of its pre-colonial
ancestry. This amounted to significant challenges
to the dominant Western narratives, particularly
regarding the production of history and
knowledge, existing philosophies about ways of
being in the world, as well as control over
society, including environment and resources.gt
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Uncovered in 1937, showing the length, features
topography
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...an intricate environmental finale triple
action utilitarian, ceremonial and religious.
ltAcequias were once celebratory of life, colour,
biodiversity along with a basic recognition that
mans imprint upon the environment could
harmonise with the natural world. In nearly all
villages of the Peruvian Sierra where the
headwaters of rivers begin, carrying their waters
either to the Amazon or to the Pacific, one can
find this system of irrigation.
Tello wrote that their maintenance is associated
with fiestas and ceremonies, beginning with
care of the lagoonsthe cleansing of
depositsthe veneration of the source or spring
from where mineral water emanates.gt
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Water festivals, mythological importance,
dressing up as frogs, animals and birds
ltThere was a light-hearted seriousness apparent
in Tellos understandings of how Perus
pre-Hispanic civilisations associated with
resources such as water. Tello concluded, there
is always a fiesta of great importance in the
life of the aborigine. But they were conducted
with respect and caution as these gods could also
wage environmental disaster. In short, worship,
maintenance and protection could advert
disastrous climate change.gt
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...of all the ruined, entombed, or forgotten
monuments from antiquity nothing like the
irrigation works comprise such a positive
inheritance left by our ancestorsThey reveal a
deep command of the ground conditions so as to
maximize available watersand a well-founded hope
of their renovation in the future development of
agriculture in Peru.
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ltOur current Hispanic-Peruvian civilization can
only be constructed from an Indigenous pedestal.
Neither can it maintain itself durable and firm
if it doesnt adapt this as a central focus, if
man does not endeavour to utilize our own human
and natural resources, discover the secrets and
wonders of our own nature, admire the labour of
our ancestors, glorify the generations that lived
upon our own land lands upon where their ashes
are to be found, where they harvested their food,
defending and utilizing it all over many
centuriesgt.
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Conclusion
ltTello advocated that a sustainable future for
Peru would incorporate the best from a time
before colonial histories dominated all aspects
of the Peruvian environment. Equally, the
capacity for culture to inform and direct
environmental concerns, as well as a history of
culture influencing environmentalism throughout
Perus Andes and Amazon regions, were made
apparent. His findings on the cultural traditions
and relevance of clean water were fundamentally
environmental in character, pertaining to
underlying lifestyle characteristics of
pre-Hispanic societies.gt
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Planetary Boundaries Framework by SRC
ltThe SRC's leading scientist, Johan Rockström,
states that "To stay within a safe operating
space and guarantee future life on Earth, we need
to keep 85 of all Rainforest systems Human
destruction of Rainforest systems alone
including biodiversity is already at 62,
meaning a tipping point has been reached.
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ltAfterword - not good enough to view global
environmental history as a dead and buried
subject... Nearly 100 years on from Tello-
Peru the worlds third most susceptible country
to climate change, making it a ubiquitous
lived daily experience. In Dec 2014 Peru hosted
the COP-20 meeting on worldwide climate change.
- Andean regions are undergoing dramatic
physical change as icecaps and glaciers retreat.
Glacial collapse obliterates towns, cities and
infrastructures (42,000 Peruvian lives). Peru
accounts for 0.7 of global greenhouse gases. -
The Pastoruri glacier - within 25 years this
formidable glacier will be bare rock, all
memories will remain in promotional travel
photography. - Incomprehensible when we reflect
upon Raimondis descriptions 120 years ago of
Peru's icecaps as being perpetual and
eternal. - Walter H. Wust looks at his own
photographs over decades, stating, We need to
use water more efficiently...Like pre-Inca people
worked, we must work with hundreds of communities
in the Andes to collect water, make channels,
keep them clean a lot of organisation. - Dr
Antonio Brack Peru has lost 15 million hectares
of forest, 5 million were Andean forests trees
being very important for generating water. -
Reforestation up to altitudes of 4,200 meters
cools the atmosphere and the careful management
of water sources, including the reinstatement and
maintenance of acequias, are two of my major
findings in terms of how travel narratives are
addressing climate change and environmental
concerns.gt
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