The Cosmopoetics of Guaman Poma: Ritual Songs and Territory in the New Chronicle

Abstract

This article proposes a cosmopoetic reading of some of the songs transcribed by Guaman Poma in the Nueva corónica. From a selection of this corpus, we propose, first, some methodological and theoretical precisions about what is understood by Amerindian cosmopoetics and how to approach these texts taking into account their oral and community origin. A translation of the Quechua songs included by Guaman Poma will be proposed, which will also help the proposed interpretation.
As this reflective reading will show, these songs warn of a dialogic and affective relationship with the territory, in which the human being is conceived as part of a wider community of the living and in which the word has the power to influence the rest of the living beings.