"Holy Ancestors" :Community,power and brotherhood in Humahuaca during XViIII century.

Abstract

In this study we try to discern the relationship between confraternity, community and power in an indigenous society of the colonial Tucumán, particu- larly in those practices and Christian rituals involving the deceased They were reappropriated and given a new meaning by the community as an alternative to update the Andean gure of the ancestors as bases of legitimacy and power legitimation The work focuses on the early decades of the 18th century, in order to recognize the characteristics and operation of the confraternity at a time of institutional and community consolidation resulting from the process that took place during the 17th century