essay
The MIT'A obligations of ethnic groups to the Inka state
Inca and Aztec states, 1400-1800 : anthropology and history • New York • Published In 1982 • Pages: 237-262
By: Murra, John V..
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
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).
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- 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
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Inka
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2005
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- South America
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Central Andes
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- John Beierle ; 2003
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- no date
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1532-1600
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Peru
- NotesAdditional notes
- John V. Murra
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 260-262)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 82006760
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Incas