nataliaruizubc

 The First New Chronicle and Good Government by Guaman Poma is nothing but an interpretation of what happened in Peru at the Colonial time. 
I found it sad and painful… specially because what Poma is describing at that time (abuse of power, cruelty to the indigenous and poor people and domestic violence among others) still happening in Latin American nowadays.

In the same way, there are three important aspects I would like to emphasize.
The first one is about his intention; what he was trying to do when he wrote it? Let me ask this then: it is this chronicle a Political Project of that time which aimed to promote the indigenous nation autonomy? It looks to me that he was trying to make a giant effort to portrait the values of his own society and show how – from the indigenous perspective- the colonial time was understood. 
In that way; the chronicle describes –from an indigenous perspective- the history of the prehispanic indigenous. It is like the Andina version of the conquest VS. the Spanish version.  

The second one is about his stunning drawings. He was a wonderful artist, no doubt about it.  His illustration are not only a graphic and visual material but they also portrait the transition from the prehispanic art to the figurative art which became popular in the XVI century. That in turn represents, metaphorically speaking, the transition from the indigenous world to the Mestizo European world. 

The last, one but no least is about how he used this chronicle as a (media and communication weapon). Poma, a Yarovilca indigenous, was able to realize how important the communication and mass media are. He is not only a historian but also a communicator. He knew how important and effective are the mass media, especially if it is visual too. I think that he saw his chronicle as one way to repair and health… Image, Handwriting and Salvation.