Aymara

ETHNONYMS: none

Orientation

Identification. The name "Aymara" is of unknown origin. Historically, the Aymara referred to themselves as "Jaqi," meaning "human beings," or as "Colla." This term "was extended loosely by early Spanish chroniclers to include all the Aymara-speaking tribes of the 'Collao' or Collasuyo division of the Inca empire" (La Barre 1948).

Location. The Aymara are presently concentrated on the altiplano, the Andean high plateau, a geographical zone of approximately 170,000 square kilometers at a medium elevation of 4,000 meters above sea level. Although located in the center of the South American continent, the altiplano has far from a tropical climate, owing to the extreme elevation—surrounding mountains range up to 7,000 meters. The temperature varies more between night and day than between seasons. Normally the summer season (November to March) has daily rainfalls, the winter (May through September) a complete drought. The population is mainly spread around Lake Titicaca in Peru and Bolivia, extending into southern Bolivia, southern Peru, and northern Chile. There is evidence that in the pre-Inca period Aymara speakers were geographically spread over a substantially larger area.

Demography. In 1950 the Aymara population was estimated to be between 600,000 and 900,000, with the majority living in Bolivia. More recent estimates claim that the Aymara number between two and three million, of which around half a million live in Peru (approximately 2.3 percent of the Peruvian population). The Bolivian Aymara are about 30 percent of the population. For these reasons, the Aymara tend to be linked more closely to the history of Bolivia than to that of Peru.

Linguistic Affiliation. The Aymara language, one of the three most widely spoken (with Quechua and Guaraní) Indian language in South America, belongs to the Andean-Equatorial Language Family, more specifically to the Jaqi Language Group. There are three Jaqi languages: Jaqaru and Kawki, spoken only in Peru, and Aymara, spoken primarily in Bolivia and Peru.

History and Cultural Relations

The Aymara are considered descendants of some of the earliest inhabitants of the continent and possible founders of the so-called Tiahuanaco (Tiwanaku) high culture, estimated to have existed from between 500 and 200 b.c. to around a.d. 1000. For unknown reasons this culture suddenly collapsed in the thirteenth century (i.e., before the Inca Empire reached its peak toward the end of the fifteenth century). By then most people of the Andes, from Equador into Chile, were linked in a tightly controlled economic and political system in which the Quechua language of the Incas dominated. But the Aymara, as an exception from Inca practice, were allowed to retain their own language. This contributed to the still-persisting cultural and social separation of the Aymara.

After the Spanish Conquest in 1533 the Aymara shared the fate of most South American peoples-centuries of suppression. In what later became Bolivia, the Spaniards started the extraction of metals, mainly silver, at the price of ruthless exploitation of the Indian population, which was forced to work in the mines. The eighteenth century was a period of great unrest among various Indian groups in what was then called Upper Peru (part of Bolivia today). Lacking coordination, these uprisings had little effect upon the lives of the Aymara in the area. Nor did the fifteen-year long war of independence, which in 1825 resulted in the proclamation of the Republic of Bolivia.

The status of the Bolivian Aymara remained virtually unchanged until the revolution in 1952, which led to economic and social reforms such as universal suffrage and land reform. A continuing stormy political scene has, however, resulted in an underdeveloped economy, poor communication, and social problems; these conditions primarily affect the Indian population, whose situation is not likely to change rapidly. Culturally related peoples are the Quechua, the Uru, and the Chipaya. Their languages are unrelated (in spite of the common belief to the contrary), but there has been extensive mutual linguistic and cultural borrowing.

Settlements

As the Aymara switched to pastoralism and agriculture, they settled in small clusters throughout the altiplano area. Several millennia later, during the colonial period, two types of highland communities came into existence in Bolivia: the hacienda-dominated community (inhabited by colonos ) and the marginal, freeholding community (inhabited by comunarios ), which contributed to the development of diverging settlement patterns. Homesteads in the comunario community are often widely dispersed, whereas in the colono community living quarters are mostly built in close-knit clusters. The buildings of each unit (for an extended family or some related families) are surrounded with a wall. Aymara frequently own dwellings in more than one location because of their traditional engagement (landholdings, trade, or barter) in different places. In the 1950s, when the Aymara began substantial migration to urban centers, they kept their settlement pattern, including having a wall around the dwelling of a nuclear or extended family.

Economy

Subsistence and Commercial Activities. Early Aymara began practicing animal husbandry and subsistence agriculture possibly around 2500 b.c. Climate, elevation, and poor soil limit the range of plants and food crops that can be cultivated. The Aymara adapted to their harsh environment by engaging in the domestication of animals and crops, some of which are still unique to the Andes (the Andean cameloid, llama, and the native grain, quinoa) and others of which (e.g., potatoes and maize) have spread throughout the world. A method for food preservation was developed early: dehydration (freeze-drying) of the staple food, potatoes, and other Andean tubers. This allowed long-term storage, necessary in a region of seasonal production, as well as the accumulation of a surplus to free labor for nonsubsistence activities. The dramatic differences in elevation create substantial climatic variations in geographically close areas. As insurance against the failure of a single crop and to get access to a greater variety of products, the Aymara have developed a method of agricultural diversification: they keep land in different ecozones. This diversification technique is used also in commercial activities (e.g., trade and wage labor). Trade is by tradition dominated by women, who bring agricultural produce to central markets, where today most products are sold, not traded. Early patterns of seasonal migration (mainly by men) for wage labor have contributed to the engagement in the cash economy by most present-day Aymara. However, there are rural villagers still living mainly through subsistence agriculture.

Industrial Arts. Pottery making and weaving are performed by both men and women. Works of highly skilled architects and sculptors from the Tiahuanaco culture can still be seen at that site.

Trade. Despite lagging development of infrastructure and poor communications, Aymara men and women traditionally keep long-distance trading partners, which enables them to acquire produce from other ecological zones. In institutionalized reciprocal relationships, such as ayni (exchange of labor, goods, and services) and compadrazgo (godparenthood, coparenthood, ritual kinship), labor may be exchanged for food products or meals. Urban traders exchange, for example, salt, sultana coffee, rice, or vegetables grown at low elevation for several kinds of potatoes and dried beans with their rural partners.

Division of Labor. Labor is divided equally between married spouses (i.e., husbands and wives work the fields together, although they may have different tasks). But no task is so sex specific that the other cannot take it on. Among urban "Westernized" Aymara, however, the traditional labor cooperation seems to be vanishing.

Land Tenure. In early days a form of collective landownership was practiced by the members of an ayllu, a basic social, political, and geographical unit (see "Kinship"). Grazing land was used in common, whereas the agricultural land was rotated and distributed yearly among ayllu members according to the needs of each extended family. Only land on which the families had their houses was privately owned. As land became permanently divided and privately owned by separate families, the tradition of working in common-labor groups has been weakened.

Kinship

Kin Groups and Descent. According to a common Andean bilateral kinship system, Aymara trace descent through both male and female ancestors within a certain number of generations, usually to the great-grandparents (t'unu ). It is unclear when this cognatic system developed, but ethnographers (e.g., Lambert 1977) at present agree that earlier reports of a patrilineal system are the results of misinterpretations and that the pre-Hispanic kinship system rather was parallel, or dual, in its nature (Collins 1981). Kin groups were traditionally organized into an ayllu, described as a "subtribe," "one or several extended families," "extended lineages," "a unit within which certain bonds of kinship are recognized" or, according to Zuidema (1977), as "any social or political group with a boundary separating it from the outside." The ayllus and the current corresponding comunidades display strong tendencies of endogamy. A high rate of endogamy between urban migrants and members from their community of origin is reported.

Kinship Terminology. According to Lounsbury (1964), the kinship system was a rarity of the Omaha type. This is based on Ludovico Bertonio's early-seventeenth-century Vocabulary. Today there is assimilation to a Spanish bilateral system, but with vestiges of the older system.

Marriage and Family

Marriage. Most marriages derive from the choice of the young couple but are regarded as an economic union with binding reciprocal obligations among three households: those of the parents of the groom, the parents of the bride, and the newlyweds. A marriage is entered through a series of stages and wedding ceremonies, earlier mistakenly apprehended as "trial marriages." Marriages are monogamous and divorce is fairly easy.

Domestic Unit. The basic unit is the nuclear family with extended family networks for cooperation. Nuclear families with separate households often live on the same premises as their extended kin. Virilocal or neolocal residence is typically practiced.

Inheritance. Inheritance is traditionally bilateral (i.e., males and females inherit property separately from their father and mother). The equal inheritance rules, legalized in Bolivia in 1953, have sometimes led to extreme splitting up of land, resulting in the bending of the rules in practice.

Socialization. Children are regarded as complete human beings and are brought up with guidance rather than with rebuke or force. They are treated with respect, and, although seldom excluded from any situation, they are taught to be quiet when grown-ups talk.

Sociopolitical Organization

Social Organization. The idea of equality, embraced by all Aymara, is a component of most relationships in rural society. The social system is flexible, and on the lowest levels of the social structure, the family and the ayllu, individuals are interchangeable (i.e., men and women can change roles). Males and females are considered equal in status, decision making, and rights, as well as in inheritance, labor division, and cooperation.

Political Organization. In pre-Conquest time, when the Aymara dominated the Andean highlands, a number of Aymara-speaking "nations," divided into "kingdoms" or "chiefdoms," developed. An Andean type of endogamous moiety organization with stratification of ethnic groups (Aymara and Uru) has been reported (Murra 1968). The independence of these nations was lost as the Quechua-speaking Incas extended their influence, but on the local level little of Aymara life changed. Decision making in the traditional ayllu was of the consensus type. Leadership authority was executed by the jilaqata, chosen yearly among adult men according to a rotating system. In the new community organization, connected to the national governments, the headman is theoretically chosen by the subprefector in the provincial capital, but in practice he is often elected by his community members. He is merely the "foremost among equals," and actual decisions are made by the reunión (assembly), where consensus is still a goal. In August 1993 an Aymara, Victor Hugo Cárdenas, took office as vice president of Bolivia.

Social Control. The flexible and ideally egalitarian Aymara system has resulted in relatively few rules and taboos and consequently a low degree of social control. In case of personal conflict, the common forms of social control are used—gossip and ostracism (e.g., in the form of exclusion from dancing, drinking, and eating with the well-demarcated fiesta group).

Conflict. Individual and family disputes, often over land or inheritance, were settled by the jilaqata, who also arbitrated in inter-ayllu conflicts. In today's organization, conflicts are solved at assembly meetings, or if intractable, referred to central authorities. Physical arguments or regular fights usually occur only under the influence of alcohol. On the ayllu or village level the Aymara have a strong sense of collective identity and "community orientation" at times resulting in prejudice, mistrust, and suspicion toward "outsiders." Competition, mistrust, and conflict between other bonded units, such as family groups and village or community sections, is also not uncommon.

Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious Beliefs. The majority of the Aymara today are nominally Roman Catholic. In practice their religion is a syncretistic blend of Catholicism and indigenous religion, based on a parallelism, in which supernatural phenomena were classified similarly to natural ones. Such phenomena, as well as religious leaders, were ranked in vaguely hierarchical and relatively unstructured and flexible orders. Some indigenous rites are still practiced, mostly in addition to established Catholic ceremonies. Spirits, in the indigenous Aymara cognition, inhabit not heaven but surrounding high mountains, rivers, lakes, and so on, or rather, those sacred places are personified spirits.

Religious Practitioners. Intermediaries between the natural and supernatural spheres are several kinds of magicians such as yatiri (diviner) and laiqa and paqu (practitioners of black or white magic). The aim of their activities is to bring about a balance between human and natural phenomena. Magic is used (e.g., in courtship, at childbirth, to cure illness, at planting and harvest rituals, and in weather-controlling rites).

Ceremonies. Reciprocity, the basic and most salient feature of all Aymara social relations, is culturally institutionalized in several systems (e.g., those of ayni, compadrazgo, and fiesta). Ayni, compadrazgo, and the two types of fiestas (religious and life-cycle) are all surrounded by specific rules and ceremonies. Although there has been much debate over the origin, development, and meaning of these systems, it is evident that in the form they exist today, they serve to extend and maintain an individual's personal network and fulfill his or her occasional need to express group cohesion and feelings of cultural identity.

Arts. Performing arts in the form of band music and dancing are important parts of every ceremony and fiesta. Most common are brass instruments, completed with drums, Andean flutes (kena and sampoña ), and a minimandolin (charango ) made of armadillo hide.

Medicine. Illness is considered to be caused by both natural and supernatural phenomena and may be cured accordingly—with the help of medicine and/or a curer. Most medicines derive from plants; roots, leaves, or flowers, are administered as infusions or herbal teas. Animal parts and minerals are also used. Indigenous methods are applied along with Western medicines prescribed by clinical doctors or obtained at the drugstore.

Death and Afterlife. Formalized passage rites are staged for a deceased, in which food and drink are important elements. This series of rituals (extending over a period of three to ten years) includes mourning wake, funeral, cabo de ano (end of the mourning year), and yearly celebrations at Todos Santos (1-2 November). The souls of the departed are then believed to return to earth, where they must be treated properly (i.e., fed) so they will refrain from vengeance. For the interment, the common practice is to send a number of items along with the deceased, mostly clothing and food, for use during the difficult journey into the highlands, where the spirits dwell.

Bibliography

Albo, Xavier (1976). Esposos, suegros y padrinos entre los aymares. 2nd ed. La Paz: Centro de Investigación y Promoción del Campesinado.

Bolton, Ralph, and Enrique Mayer, eds. (1977). Andean Kinship and Marriage. American Anthropological Association, Special Publication 7. Washington, D.C.

Buechler, Hans C., and Judith-Marie Buechler (1971). The Bolivian Aymara. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

Carter, William E., and Mauricio Mamani (1982). "Irpa Chico": Individuo y comunidad en la cultura aymara. La Paz: Librería-Editorial "Juventud."

Collins, Jane L. (1981). "Kinship and Seasonal Migration among the Aymara of Southern Peru: Human Adaptation to Energy Scarcity." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Florida.

Hardman, M. J., ed. (1981). The Aymara Language in Its Social and Cultural Context. Gainesville: University of Florida Press.

La Barre, Weston (1948). "The Aymara Indians of the Lake Titicaca Plateau, Bolivia." American Anthropological Association Memoirs 68:250. Washington, D.C.

Lambert, Bernd (1977). "Bilaterality in the Andes." In Andean Kinship and Marriage, edited by Ralph Bolton and Enrique Mayer, 1-27. American Anthropological Association, Special Publication 7. Washington, D.C.

Lounsbury, Floyd (1964). "A Formal Account of the Crow- and Omaha-Type Kinship Terminologies." In Explorations in Cultural Anthropology, edited by Ward Goodenough, 351-393. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Murra, John (1968). "An Aymara Kingdom in 1567." Ethnohistory 15:115-151.

Tschopic, Harry, Jr. (1946). "The Aymara." In Handbook of South American Indians, edited by Julian H. Steward. Vol. 2, The Andean Civilizations, 501-573. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 143. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.

Zuidema, R. Tom (1977). "The Inca Kinship System: A New Theoretical Outlook." In Andean Kinship and Marriage, edited by Ralph Bolton and Enrique Mayer, 240281. American Anthropological Association, Special Publication 7. Washington, D.C.

MICK JOHNSSON