Week 13: Stern/ Restall

In Peru's Indian Peoples and the Challenge of Spanish Conquest, Steve J. Stern supports some of the paradigms identified as myths by Mathew Restall in Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest.  One of the most notable myths which Stern supports is Restall's myth of "native desolation." Restall identifies this myth as the belief that Indigenous societies entered a state of complete alienation and confusion as a result of the collapse of their original structures and systems.  This creates the idea that native civilizations, with no opportunity to assimilate themselves into the new system, were crushed under the new order of the Spaniards.  Restall believes this to be false however, as he claims native responses to invasion were varied.  He writes: "native cultures proved resilient and adaptive, and many natives, especially elites, found opportunity in the Conquest-era transition" (102).

Stern supports Restall's views on "native desolation" throughout most of his book.  In the chapters describing post-Incaic Andean civilization, Stern describes the way many natives did not simply fall into a state of despair following Spanish conquest, but looked to adjust to the ways of the new society.  Many tribes felt they could benefit from allying themselves with the Spanish.  Stern writes: "local societies of Huamanga saw positive benefits in an alliance with the Europeans.  They could finally break the yoke of Inca rule, and advance ethnic interests in a new, post-Incaic era" (30).  Another example of Indian assimilation is the economy.  Some natives sought to take advantage of the opportunities present within the new Spanish economy.  Stern writes: "colonial society offered new possibilities to dissatisfied individuals willing to abandon or loosen ties with allyu society...The brisk commerce in coca led Indian entrepreneurs, especially the kurakas, to join Spaniards in setting up private coca plantations" (38).  Other Indians decided to resist Spanish rule.  The rebel neo-Incans led raids against the Spanish, and soon allied themselves with the Taki Onqoy movement, hoping this would help them to crush Spanish rule (Stern 71).  From Stern's writings, it is clearly shown that native society did not fall into a desolate state following Spanish invasion, but rather sought to adjust, in varying ways, to the new structure created by Spanish rule.  This supports Restall's views of "native desolation" being nothing more than a myth.