Author Description

This collection of essays by scholars from the Andes, Europe and the United States was originally published in the French journal Annales as a special double issue entitled The Historical Anthropology of Andean Societies. It combines the perspectives of archaeology, anthropology and history to present a complex view of Andean societies over various millenia. The unique features of the Andean landscape, the impact of the Inka state on different regions and ethnic groups, the transformations wrought through the colonial presence and the creation of nineteenth-century republics are all analysed, as are the profound continuities in some aspects of Andean culture and social organisation to the present day. The book reflects some of the most innovative research that occurred in the 1970s and 80s. Apart from its substantive interest for students of the Andes and American civilisations in general, it shows the possibility of closer collaboration between history and anthropology.