Between the Bourbon reforms and the Andean utopia. Critical comments on a historiographic debate about the Andean rebellions in the 18th century

Abstract

Much has been written about the rebellion of Túpac Amaru II since the very beginning of the actions in 1780, raising innumerable discussions about the meaning of the events. For a long time, the central problem revolved around the dilemma between interpreting the uprising as the culmination of the conflicts that shook the colonial order during the 18th century, or placing it at the beginning of the struggles for independence. Among modern authors it is possible to distinguish some differences in emphasis in the relative importance given to the different dimensions of the social -economic, political, ideological, etc.- for the explanation of the Andean rebellions of the 18th century. In this work I will try to analyze one of the debates that have been structured based on this type of interpretative differences, exploring the possibilities of constructing a comprehensive - that is, multidimensional - approach to the phenomenon studied.