El quipu: escritura andina en las redes informáticas incaicas y coloniales

Abstract

In my dissertation I question the conceptions of writing that surfaced during the colonial period in Peru and argue that the quipu operated as a writing system which was central to the Inca civilization but later marginalized through Spanish colonization. This work brings to the forefront the importance of mathematics and counting in the context of conquest and colonization, as well as possible connections between semiotics and power. This research expands colonial studies by presenting new archival sources within an interdisciplinary approach. Such an analysis of the origins of colonial culture has the potential to re-locate Andean thought within the unilateral colonial power structures, thus changing the way in which minority discourse and indigenous agency is recognized and historicized.