Legitimacy, genealogy and memory in Southern Andes: the Fernández Guarachi of Jesús de Machaca (Pacajes, 16th-17th centuries)

Abstract

The paths of the Fernández Guarachi, caciques of Jesús de Machaca significatively ilustrate native elites’ strategies towards the colonial domain in the Southern Andes, while changing positions as “between worldhinges” in 16th-17th centuries’ political stage. Ethnohistorical research has tireless reviewed their mercantile practices, their appeals at colonial justice, their “cultural metissage”, and their cohesive function as ethnic leaders. Once again, we turn back in this paper on this renowned native lineage, regarding other edges: the mythical-historical account for their origins and the associated symbolic aspects, the late construction of a genealogical memory with clear vindicative intentions, and some references about the sense of legitimacy sprung from the ayllu (kin-based groups).