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Maren Elwood / The Role of the Escuela Cuzqueña Artis
Visual Anthropologist, Ethnographer, Filmmaker, and President of “On-Site Research Associates Maren’s research focuses on using ethnographic film as a tool to resolve conflict on archaeological sites. Maren has been working with the site management, archaeologists, and the indigenous Quecha, many of whom are the descendants of the Inca, to develop a plan to conserve the site of Saqsaywaman, located above Cusco. The entire Cusco/Saqsaywaman area had been the epicenter of the Inca Empire before the 16th-century Spanish Conquest of Peru. After receiving her BA in Psychology at UCLA in 1989, Maren went on to become President and Founder of a company called “Environmental Marketing Research. After working on projects with the corporate world, her interest in ethnography and social media eventually led her return to academia and to received in 2012 her Master of Art in Visual Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology at USC. |
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Maren has also given talks at several conferences and seminars and published several articles on various subjects pertaining to her research and documentary films. One of these documentary films, “Stone and People,” won “Best Documentary Short” in the Carmel Film Festival in 2012.
After her decade of work in Cusco, the Ministry of Culture has granted Maren permission to hold meetings on their behalf here in the States, as Peruvian heritage professionals seek assistance from the Getty Conservations Institute, the Cotsen Institute, and Quacom Lidar Institute in San Diego. This year, she has also been asked to produce another version of the “Stone & People” film to showcase the importance of Saqsaywaman and flesh out a website named “Voices of Saqsaywaman” to give the local communities and the Ministry yet another vehicle to communicate with each other and the world.
Maren’s work in Cusco has more recently led her to begin to explore the artistic language of a number of little-known religious paintings of the Catholic Church in Peru known as the “Chapel de San Antonio Abad,” which includes many paintings done by the Cuzqueña School of Artisans. This group of indigenous painters had been trained by the Spanish to promote the Christianization of Inca. These paintings are particularly interesting in revealing how the indigenous painters developed pictorial strategies to adapt somewhat subversively their own native religious belief to Christianity, which the Spanish were attempting to force on the Inca. Maren’s recent discovery of a painting called the “Huerta de san Antonio” (i.e., the “Garden of Saint Antonio”) sheds new light on a period of time in Peru, when factions of the church were fighting for their own ideas on how to teach the gospel in Peru.
This brings us to the topic of Maren’s talk today: “The Role of the Escuela Cuzqueña Artistas (i.e., “the Cusco School of Artists”) in the Spanish Conquest of Peru and their Attempt to Christianize the Inca.”
After her decade of work in Cusco, the Ministry of Culture has granted Maren permission to hold meetings on their behalf here in the States, as Peruvian heritage professionals seek assistance from the Getty Conservations Institute, the Cotsen Institute, and Quacom Lidar Institute in San Diego. This year, she has also been asked to produce another version of the “Stone & People” film to showcase the importance of Saqsaywaman and flesh out a website named “Voices of Saqsaywaman” to give the local communities and the Ministry yet another vehicle to communicate with each other and the world.
Maren’s work in Cusco has more recently led her to begin to explore the artistic language of a number of little-known religious paintings of the Catholic Church in Peru known as the “Chapel de San Antonio Abad,” which includes many paintings done by the Cuzqueña School of Artisans. This group of indigenous painters had been trained by the Spanish to promote the Christianization of Inca. These paintings are particularly interesting in revealing how the indigenous painters developed pictorial strategies to adapt somewhat subversively their own native religious belief to Christianity, which the Spanish were attempting to force on the Inca. Maren’s recent discovery of a painting called the “Huerta de san Antonio” (i.e., the “Garden of Saint Antonio”) sheds new light on a period of time in Peru, when factions of the church were fighting for their own ideas on how to teach the gospel in Peru.
This brings us to the topic of Maren’s talk today: “The Role of the Escuela Cuzqueña Artistas (i.e., “the Cusco School of Artists”) in the Spanish Conquest of Peru and their Attempt to Christianize the Inca.”
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The Role Of Trust On An Archaeological Site
Honoring Pachamama While Working With The Ministry of Culture On The Active Archaeological Site of Saqsaywaman, Peru When you work in Peru, the first step is to coordinate with the Ministry of Culture to get the necessary “convenio” paperwork. But in addition to obtaining permiso to work on the land/site, you must also seek the blessing of the Inca’s revered Mother Earth. During this talk, we will explore both processes and discuss the role “trust” plays in each situation. Working with heritage professionals and the communities that live on this archaeological site is challenging and rewarding. Learning to navigate the complex social interactions that occur when you work on an archaeological site is as important as knowing how to manage a dig site or conduct ethnographic interviews on camera. Trust is your calling card and how to build and maintain it will be outlined in this talk. Finally, we will perform a mini “Pago”, the ceremony to Pachamama that must be conducted each year before you work on Peruvian soil. We will explore the role coca leaves, chicha and dried llama fetuses play in honoring the sacred mother earth and the “Apu”, the Andes mountains. (Ethnographic films from Maren’s work at Saqsaywaman and a sacred Pago ceremony will be shown.) |