Abstract
This article is based upon ethnographic research conducted with Q’ero Indigenous migrants living in Cusco, Peru in the fall of 2018. The Q’ero community originates from the village of Paucartambo and the surrounding areas, about a three days’ trek northeast of the city. These stories collected from the migrants emphasize the centrality of their spirituality and worldview in defining their sense of identity apart from that of greater society. In their rituals, these migrants draw upon an experience of the sacred which is manifest through performance, discipline, and practice – often more so than through belief, faith, or intellectualism. Based on my time with the migrants, I argue that Indigenous identity is much more dynamic and multi-faceted than often assumed. Above all, this project centers around the stories we tell in our lives – not as scholars, but as human beings. It is an attempt to understand the assumptions we hold as individuals raised in a particular culture and consciousness. It is an opportunity to interrogate how we respond to difference – to explore how we might hold multiple identities and commitments at once.
Keywords: Philosophy of Religion, Peru, Cusco, Q'eros, Andean Catholicism, Andean Spirituality, Migration.
Recommended Citation
DeLong, Autumn J. and Irco, Mirtha
(2022)
"What We Mean When We Say "Religion": The Q'ero Migrants of Cusco, Peru,"
Journal of Gender, Ethnic, and Cross-Cultural Studies: Vol. 1:
Iss.
1, Article 6.
Available at:
https://epublications.marquette.edu/jgecp/vol1/iss1/6
Included in
Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, History Commons, Other Religion Commons, Practical Theology Commons, Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons, Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons
