Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: Throughout the mid-sixteenth century and the early seventeenth century, the use of coca was intricately connected to the Indigenous identity in Peru.The Inca elite had used coca in various religious and cultural practices prior to the conquest, and this connection to the Inca past remained an important aspect of the coca leaf throughout the early colonial period.The coca leaf had multiple uses in colonial Peru: The plant was an important part of the religious and cultural practices of the Indigenous population; it was used by Native miners in order to combat hunger, thirst, and exhaustion; and it formed a part of hybridized ritualistic practices.The coca leaf had a social and economic impact on colonial Peru; the extent of this impact was largely determined by colonial officials and their attitudes towards the plant.The colonists' perspectives regarding the plant was formed in connection to the Indigenous identity and captured through colonial writings.My paper explores the ways in which the colonists' attitudes towards the coca leaf were largely formed in relation to their views of racial superiority.I also investigate the religious, economic, and hybridized cultural structures that formed in connection with the Indigenous identity and the coca leaf. Hafso 2Cultural practices, economic progress, and colonial attitudes were factors that intertwined with the coca plant to produce debates regarding its use in Colonial Peru.In a 2009 newspaper article, the president of Bolivia at the time, Evo Morales Ayma, argued the benefits of coca chewing and expressed his regret regarding the stigma of the plant.Morales asserted the connection between the Indigenous identity and the coca plant: "Why is Bolivia so concerned with the coca leaf?Because it is an important symbol of the history and identity of the Indigenous cultures of the Andes." 1 Morales continued to explain that there are millions of people in "Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, and northern Argentina and Chile" who chew coca leaves. 2 Morales articulated the meaning of coca leaves in terms of Indigenous culture in the Andes; this association between the coca leaf and indigeneity can be seen through the colonial use and discourse of the plant.Although this article entitled, "Let Me Chew My Coca Leaves" primarily addressed the criminalization of coca since it became associated with cocaine, the extent to which the article reflects remnants of colonial debates and attitudes towards coca use is significant.3 Throughout the history of latin america, the coca leaf has been a target for legislation.The Spanish conquest prompted new discussions pertaining to the use of coca leaves in religious, economic, and social terms.Colonial attitudes towards the use of coca were a significant source of contention following the Spanish conquest.Coca leaves represented a part of the Indigenous identity in the Andes throughout the colonial period in a similar way to the contemporary cultural meaning outlined by Morales. 4 This paper will demonstrate the extent to which the debates regarding the use of coca were deeply rooted in colonial perceptions of superiority in 1
Source: Constellations
DOI: 10.29173/cons29388
Author: Jasmine Patricia Hafso
Institution: University of Alberta
Language: English
Subfield: Visual Arts and Performing Arts
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2945420560