Paper short abstract:

This paper aims to examine the terms by which the human and non-human components of a Quechua-Cañaris group of northern Peruvian Andes conceptualize and establish their relationships with the landscape in a context saturated by different external-driven actions of ruination.

Paper long abstract:

Leaving open the possibility of a radical alterity and multiplicity of an environment with whom humans relate in terms that exceed modern worldings, I will try to describe Cañaris' practices and conceptions relating to the construction, uses, inhabiting and renovation of a sacred building made with ancient techniques in one of its most important towns. The non-human entity that emerge from this ontogenic exploration is called Iglisya. It is a building of thatched roof and sun dried bricks that is simultaneously less "indigenous" and more "artificial" than what has been usually the focus of Amerindian studies. I argue that since its clandestine construction by "indios" of the eighteenth century, this temple represented the Cañaris landscape and, more importantly, constituted it in a specific form. In fact, this Iglisya is not distinguishable from the relationship between the Cañarenses and their land, and this relationship is conceived and made in analogy to that one between parents and children. In sum, the landscape is treated and understood by Cañarenses as their child. This assertion is in contrast to those entities usually invoked by publicised indigenous movements and protests, such as Pachamama. Finally, the paper considers the material and ritual aspects of a relationship with a more-than-human entity that constitutes a landscape and provides Cañarenses with a cosmopolitical device with which they become able to contend on their own terms an increasingly threatening ruination context.