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CLACS Lecture Series. "Colorful Tropical Feathers and Andean Meaning Making. Reading Chroniclers Literally"

Event Type
Lecture
Sponsor
Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS)
Location
101 International Studies Building, 910 S Fifth St, Champaign, IL 61820
Date
Apr 15, 2019   3:00 pm  
Speaker
Claudia Brosseder, History
Contact
Kasia Szremski
E-Mail
szremski@illinois.edu
Views
53
Originating Calendar
Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS)

Colorful Tropical Feathers and Andean Meaning Making. Reading Chroniclers Literally

Pre-Hispanic Andean cultures are famous for their colorful feathered objects, the pride of museums worldwide. Surprisingly, the meaning of these feathered objects has so far remained elusive. Scholars have primarily interpreted them as status symbols. In this talk, I show how a careful context analysis of mentions of feathers in chronicles combined with an analysis of the material record from Late Horizon archaeological material evidence helps us decipher hitherto overseen meanings of colorful feathers among Andean people, mainly the Incas. This is a novel story of decipherment as it is a discussion of Inca modes of thinking and Inca meaning-making processes, as well as European attempts to make sense of them.

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