Alliances and Negotiations in the Construction of Knowledge of Local Normativities: the Chiriguana Frontier of Tomina (16th-17th Centuries)

The presence of correspondence and normative paperwork among "unconquered" Indigenous peoples in the southeast valleys of present-day Bolivia in the 16th and 17th centuries has not been studied yet. This presentation explores the reasons behind this and the possible existence of "archives" among these peoples, their materials, and the people who facilitated the circulation, translation, interpretation, reading, and storage of these documents. Finally, there will be a discussion of the case under study as part of this research project and its initial research questions. How was it possible that "Indians at War" were bestowed privileges by a Monarchy they had not been subjected to? Can this help us rethink the concept of "conquest"? Where weapons did not work... Did paperwork and normativity do the job?