essay

The MIT'A obligations of ethnic groups to the Inka state

inca and aztec states, 1400-1800 : anthropology and historyNew York • Published In 1982 • Pages: 237-262

By: Murra, John V..

Abstract
John Murra argues that the Inka state exacted prestations in energy, not 'tribute' in kind. He also claims that Tawantinsuyu's impact on the local ethnic level has been overstressed. Many ethnic groups endured without much change at the local productive level; after articulation into the Inka state, indirect rule was the norm in politics and administration. Murra draws on the evidence of KHIPU (knotted strings recording administrative obligations), submitted as testimony by the native lords as part of sixteenth-century litigation in the colonial courts. We still cannot infer whether the state appropriated ethnic lands only at the moment of incorporqtion or later as well, but subsistence and herding activities , notably road building, military duties far from home and weaving vast quantities of cloth for state purposes. Otherwise, most farming and craftwork continued to exploit the diverse eco-niches they had controlled before articulation. The categories of state-imposed decimal administration appear only sporadically in the KHIPU records, particulalrly as one moves toward the altiplano, in the south. Murra refers to them as part of a bookkeeping vocabulary, rather than as indicating administrative reorganization of ethnic polities. He regards this stress on the local, ethnic level as a corrective to Cusco-centered interpretations of Tawantinsuyu, which tend to exaggerate the nature of the changes imposed during the Inka period (p. 237).
Subjects
Tests and schedules administered in the field
Mnemonic devices
Tillage
Woven and other interworked fabrics
Real property
Occupational specialization
Ethnic stratification
Taxation and public income
Miscellaneous government activities
culture
Inka
HRAF PubDate
2005
Region
South America
Sub Region
Central Andes
Document Type
essay
Evaluation
Creator Type
Ethnologist
Document Rating
4: Excellent Secondary Data
Analyst
John Beierle ; 2003
Field Date
no date
Coverage Date
1532-1600
Coverage Place
Peru
Notes
John V. Murra
Includes bibliographical references (p. 260-262)
LCCN
82006760
LCSH
Incas