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| The Hold Life Has: Coca and Cultural Identity in an Andean Community | 
 enlarge | Author: Allen Cj
Publisher: Smithsonian
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy Used: $11.00
You Save: $8.95 (45%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 139951
Media: Paperback
Edition: 2 Sub
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 6 x 0.8
ISBN: 1588340325
Dewey Decimal Number: 305.898323
EAN: 9781588340320
ASIN: 1588340325
Publication Date: October 17, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
This second edition of Catherine J. Allen's distinctive ethnography of the Quechua-speaking people of the Andes brings their story into the present. She has added an extensive afterword based on her visits to Sonqo in 1995 and 2000, and has updated and revised parts of the original text. The book focuses on the very real problem of cultural continuity in a changing world, and Allen finds that the hold life has in 2002 is not the same as it was in 1985.
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| Customer Reviews:
 The best available book on Q'ero April 2, 2005
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
This is a wonderful book written by an anthropologist who spent several years in an isolated Andean ayllu (community) located a good number of miles from the provincial center of Colquepata. The attraction of this book is that, unlike most authors responsible for the ever proliferating literature on Andean peoples and their practices, Allen actually lived with the Indians, participated in their ceremonies, potato planting, festivals and travels. The book provides priceless descriptions of the labor divisions between men, women and children and of the interactions between the runa (i.e., Qechua for "people") themselves, between the runa and the city-dwelling mestizos and, perhaps most poignantly, between the people and the land. The land for the Andean peasant is a living breathing organism that needs to be loved, feared and placated with gifts. Each and every horizon marker has a personality, every hill possesses power and there are spirit beings inhabiting different "power spots" from the time immemorial. The interactions between the people, the ancestors, the spirits and the land are part of the reality that needs to be reinforced every single day through little rituals, such as greeting the sun as one steps out of the door early in the morning.
Coca represented here part of the glue that held everything together. The rituals that underlie coca chewing bind people in a neverending cycle of mutual obligation; in addition, coca is used as a main ingredient of despachos (ritual offerings) and a source of quiet energy during exhaustive labor on potato fields. Unfortunately, as a result of the demand for processed coca, cocaine, in the US, and the resulting pressure on the Andean countries by coca dealers and foreign goverements alike, the Peruvian peasants have found their access to raw coca leaves (non-addictive) severely limited, which affects a crucial aspect of their culture and cultural identity.
Allen depicts all these elements (and much much more) in a simple yet poignant narrative. Everything is exactly where it should be - she brings us close to the individual members of her extended ayllu so that the reader herself can participate. I found the frequent inserts of Quechua phrases especially useful, providing a direct link into the mode of the Andean thought.
I highy recommend this book. probably the best one available, if you want to visit Qero regions in peru.
 A rather intricate look at rustic Andean life and rituals December 11, 1998
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
Allen's work was rather fascinating. She provided an in depth look at the Runa, a small group of townspeople who adhere to customs of ancient Incan and colonial Spanish civilization. She does an especially good job at exploring the role that Coca chewing plays in their society and in determing their identity. Their rituals and customs will fascinate you. Beware, this book is not for the unsophisticated reader. It's a good read, but requires some thought and exploration to truly appreciate it.
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