Description: How does a culture in which writing is not a prominent feature create historical tradition? In The Politics of Memory, Joanne Rappaport answers this question by tracing the past three centuries of the intellectual history of the Nasa -- a community in the Colombian Andes. Focusing on the Nasa historians of the eighteenth through twentieth centuries, Rappaport highlights the differences between "native" history and Eurocentric history and demonstrates how these histories must be examined in relation to the particular circumstances in which they were produced.

Reconsidering the predominantly mythic status of non-Western historical narrative, Rappaport identifies the political realities that influenced the form and content of Andean history, revealing the distinct historical vision of these stories. Because of her examination of the influences of literacy in the creation of history, Rappaport's analysis makes a special contribution to Latin American and Andean studies, solidly grounding subaltern texts in their sociopolitical contexts. This analysis is also significant for the detailed attention paid to the nineteenth century, an area of native studies that has been neglected by many anthropological observers.

Originally published by Cambridge University Press in 1990, this book will continue to be of interest to all scholars of Latin America, especially those working in anthropology, folklore, and history. It is also relevant to the study of ethnic movements and to research on literacy in non-Western society.

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