It's Been 10 Years Since The Start!

Maren filming a community meeting in Fortaleza in 2010.

In 2010 I was just starting my Master's program at the University of Southern California and had no idea that the film project I decided to pursue, as part of my education in Visual Anthropology, would end up being a 10 year long obsession.  Yet, here we are in 2020 and I'm still working on the world UNESCO archaeological site called Saqsaywaman.  It's been an honor to work with the Ministry of Culture, the various people who live in the communities of Fortaleza, Pucara and Huayllarqocha.  I have grown to love this culture and these amazing descendants of the Inca culture.  I have established friendships, professionals relationships, and I've come to know Saqsaywaman and Cusco like I know my beloved California.  

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As we start 2020, I feel such a sense of gratitude for the gift of being able to work at Saqsaywaman.  There are so many people to thank, so many doors that have opened, challenges that have been overcome.  My heart swells as I think of all the people who have supported me in so many ways.  

​It would be impossible to thank you all here, but I'm going to try.  First, the Ministry of Culture has been behind me since 2010 and the people there have become friends and professionals colleagues.  The current director of the park, Francisco Solis Diaz, has given me and my crew access to the Saqsaywaman to do our work and facilitated us getting a Convenio for all of 2019.  This year, I'll be there in January asking for the same, which they don't grant to many people.

Next, the friends, community elders, and presidents who have taken the risk to let us film them and tell their stories deserve so much respect and thanks.  We have established relationships of trust in Fortaleza, in Pucara and in ​Huayllarqocha.  It's not been as easy to gain and keep that trust.  There have been many instances where we've been questioned about our motives.  And, in 2019, our relationship with the Pucara community came under severe challenges due to a mistake I made.  It was painful but we moved beyond it and I'll be working again in 2020 to gain the trust of the Pucara elders once again.  

 Just to remind everyone and those new to this blog, these communities live on an active archaeological site, and end up having conflicts about building and modernizing their communities when the Ministry wants to preserve the site for humanity.  We have been using our camera to tell their stories and mediate through film.  The Ministry recognized us in 2019 for the importance of the work we've done to generating a situation now where conflicts are resolved more easily...most of the time.  To read more about our overall research goals, you can see some of the earlier blog posts.  

One particular community member and family deserves special mention.  Fernando Sallo, who participated in our first round of interviews in 2010 and 2011, had become a friend and important colleague.  He speaks fluent Quecha and Spanish and is learning English.  So, his help with the elders in the communities, who only speak Quecha, has been invaluable.  He lives in Fortaleza and has an extended family there with brothers, a wife and daughter and an elder grandmothers, Paola Quispe, who died in 2019.  Her story is cover in an earlier blog, but let me just say that this whole family is like a second family to me.  I could not do my work down in Saqsaywaman and the surrounding communities without his logistic, spiritual and cultural help.   

In 2020, I am going to give Fernando a video camera and teach him how to use it so he can become my local cameraman.  His daughter also wants to learn filmmaking, so giving them this equipment will enable the whole family to take steps into a new future documenting their community and, possibly, a new revenue stream.

I also owe huge debts of gratitude to those crew members through the years who have put up with the fact that my passion for this project means I get pretty demanding.  My first film partners was Ben Younkman, who did an amazing job bringing his knowledge of Peru and the Quecha people to the project.  His participation in 2010 to 2012 was the primary reason we earned the trust of the communities and the Ministry.  Then, in 2019, Dalton Gaudin (one of my cohort in the Master's program at USC) joined me for two visits to Peru.  Again, his command of the art of visual anthropology and Spanish helped me to re-establish trust with the Ministry and navigate the tricky task of reconnecting with Pucara, Huayllarqocha and Fortaleza.  His camera work was amazing and will make future movies more professional looking.  

Maren with Peter Frost in front of a stone with 18 sides perfectly fit into a wall above the main Saqsaywaman complex.

Then, much to my surprise, the National Geographic scholar Peter Frost asked to join our team in 2019!  Wow, I am so honored to be working with Peter and will be spending quite a bit of time with him in 2020. 

Over the years many other people (Becky Roth, Erika Roys, Nancy Lutkehaus, and Kara Cooney) have helped me with logistics, translations, and crucial mentoring.  And of course John Pollini at USC for his frequent advice and emotional/financial support.  John has had me teach a class during one of his courses at USC which has been fun and an invaluable academic experience.

And my friends back home in Monterey, Carmel and all over the world deserve a BIG thanks for keeping me believing in my dream to continue working in Peru, especially given health challenges from 2012 to 2018.  Can't even thank them all enough...you know who you are.

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Special recognition goes to ALL the people and organizations who have donated to this project over the years!  I've been self-funding this research since 2010 and I could not have done it without the help of friends and colleagues who have contributed along the way.  Special thanks to Susie and Charly Franklin and the Franklin Legacy Fund for their support in 2019.  And to The Global Purpose Group and Bodhi Garrett for getting us started on getting our non-profit status.  That process is now underway and we will have our 501(c)(3) by end of 2020.  A list of all our founding donors can be found on our Donations tab.  I want to thank each and every one of our donors!  We reach our financial goals one donor at a time.  

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Maren at a unique stone just above the main Saqsaywaman complex.

I leave today, January 2nd, to go back to Saqsaywaman for 5 weeks.  The goals during this trip are to do several tasks:

• Work with the Ministry of Culture at the Saqsaywaman site to set the agenda for the 2020 season.  And, apply for our 2020 Convenio.  We hope to do the following with the Ministry:
  • Film profiles of both the park director and some of the key staff.
  • Continue working with the communities to facilitate communications on challenging issues that boil down to preservation versus modernization.
  • Film the recent find of female mummy bundles by the park director Francisco Solis Diaz.
  • Determine if the Ministry wants me to explore working with one of the Lidar facilities in San Diego to plan a Lidar study of the main Saqsaywaman complex.
  • Determine if the Ministry is interested in participating in a longitudinal DNA study for the elder park residents.
  • Explore setting up a Visual Anthropology Institute in Fortaleza.
    

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Maren & Dalton with community members of Pucara in their workers shed.

• Visit the communities of Fortaleza, Huayllarchocha, and Pucara  to document with film their efforts to live on an archaeological site.  Specifically:
  • Fortaleza - interview more community elders and record their oral history in the native Quecha language.  Select one elder to do a DNA test on.
  • Huayllarchocha - meet with the community president to determine what the current situation is in that community and identify their challenges.
  • Pucara - work with the community president to gain their trust once again and film their current situation.  My personal goal here is to heal my relationship with community elder Miguel Nina.
    
    
• Work with Peter Frost to explore how to bridge the gap between current archaeological perspectives and the new research that is being generated by several different sciences. 
  
  
• Continue our documentation of the various stone types and anomalies in the Saqsaywaman archaeological zone.  
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• Produce more project videos that tell the story of Stone & People.

Adios!  Stay tuned as I'll be posting a blog weekly!  

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