Drawing and writing the testimony of hearing from a decolonial perspective in Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala‘s Primer nueva corónica.

Abstract

Here I analyze the discursive relations that emerge from Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala´s texts and drawings in his Primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno. I pay attention to the representation provided by the author about the queens (coyas) and leading women (señoras principales) of the Andean Pre-Hispanic world. Also, I propose that the representation of the queens and principal ladies is riddled with ambiguities precisely because this author´s narratives are based on a malleable and mutable source; the testimony of hearing (the oral tradition). Finally, I suggest that Guamán Poma de Ayala ends up producing an alternative text to the modern-colonial vision, which is written from the contact zone, grounded on a decolonial perspective.