Power and Childhood in the Andean Region from the Perspective of Colonial Sources (16th-17th centuries)

Abstract

For the middle of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th there is little information on Andean childhood. The image of childhood is mainly linked with Castilianization and evangelization measures. Children were considered in a double sense, on the one hand as a victim of sin as well as of devil rituals, e.g. the sacrifice of children, on the other hand as a potential factor for changing cultural habits to be loyal to the Spanish monarchy. Between these two aspects, there is information on Andean childhood that was less important for colonial policy, but very meaningful for the survival of the vernacular social group. In those years of social and political transition and transformation, different aspects of precolonial times adapted to new trends. Others were the latent substrate. Based on information from vocabularies and chronicles of this epoch, I explore in this paper this substrate about children, its characteristics, relations and functions that coexist with the official norm.