Froemming, Steven John; 1999; Rational Choice and Collective Action in an Andean Community. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Washington, Seattle. Excerpt from Chapter 12 (pages 718-724).

Deslinde: Marking Territorial Boundaries

Introduction

Until recently, deslinde -- the checking and marking of territorial boundaries -- was an annual event in Ccachín. The Inca alcalde organized the affair, and the men of the community would walk the border and check the placement and condition of the rock cairns ("hitos," "mojones") used to delimit community territory. The women, children, and old men would meet up with the group near the end of the inspection, and a huge feast -- a merienda -- would be served to all by the Inca alcalde and his entourage of varayoq. Similar rituals are common in the Andes, though it appears that the practice is not as widespread as it once was. They seem to occur most often in the Carnival season, a time of offerings for the animate landscape, ritual battles between communities, and sexual assertion (Allen 1988; Rasnake 1988; Radcliffe 1989). The practice is in decline in Ccachín. The full set of markers have not been checked in several years, and recent Inca alcaldes have not provided the community with a feast.

According to comuneros, a bottle is housed in each of the hitos ('boundary markers') along the border, and each bottle safeguards a signed and dated record of when the marker was last checked, its location, and its condition. During deslinde, the men go as a group from marker to marker. At each hito, the old bottle is broken open, the record read, a new record is made, and the bottle replaced with a new one. Old hito reports are archived by the teniente gobernador.⁽¹⁾

With the gradual expansion of community lands since becoming a comunidad campesina, it has become impossible to walk the perimeter of Ccachín's territory in a single day, necessitating change in protocol of the ceremony. At the same time, more explicit mapping of community boundaries and registration of land title with the Oficina de Comunidades Campesinas have provided alternative means for documenting

community claims, and have reduced the necessity for annual inspections. I suspect that both are reasons behind decline of the practice. The deslinde takes on renewed urgency, however, whenever a border dispute breaks out with neighboring communities. A few years after Ccachín became a comunidad campesina (sometime between 1975 and 1985), a land dispute between Ccachín and Qelkanka reached crisis proportions. One of the deslindes conducted during that period revealed that the hito marking the boundary between the two had been destroyed, and the bottle with the hito report had disappeared. There were some confrontations between the two communities at the site, with an exchange of words, but no violence. Authorities came from Ollantaytambo to back the campesinos from Qelkanka (the boundary marks not only two communities, but also two districts and two provinces), but eventually, the issue was resolved in Ccachín's favor.

Disputed Borders, Deslinde 1990

In 1990, another border dispute erupted, this time between one of Ccachín's anexos -- Qochayoq -- and Chupani, an anexo of Wakawasi. Community officials in Qochayoq asked the mother community -- Ccachín -- for help, and a deslinde was organized to place some hitos along the river in the high pastures southwest of Qochayoq in an area known as Hatun Wayq'o. A family of herders from Wakawasi lived in the area, and several families from Chupani pastured llamas and alpaca there, but Ccachín held official title to the land. Property rights have traditionally been asserted through use in the Andes (according to the principle of "use it or lose it"), and the teniente gobernador of Ccachín confided to me that because people in Qochayoq had failed to use the land, they shared blame for the conflict. Their previous indifference had allowed the herders from Chupani to fill the void and become de facto owners.⁽²⁾

Relations between the communities have often been tense anyway. Wakawasi has fame as a cattle-rustling town, and people in Ccachín complain that they are the principal victims. Comuneros recall that several years ago, thirty men from Ccachín went to Wakawasi to confront some alleged thieves after their animals disappeared. They were greeted by villagers from Wakawasi bearing sticks and hurling stones. Outnumbered three to one, they were forced to retreat. As noted in Chapter 1, these conflicts have a certain ethnic cast for people in Ccachín. In contrasting the two conflicts, people say that the dispute with Qelkanka was resolved because the authorities from Ollantaytambo were "well-educated" and knew how to fight with "words instead of stones," whereas the "people of the hills" from Chupani and Wakawasi were ignorante ('ignorant'), viciosa ('vicious'), and brava ('fierce'). The vice-president of the community went so far as to describe them as terroristas (on account of their violence, not their politics), applying a term current on the radio and in the regional and national news.⁽³⁾

The destination for the 1990 deslinde was a point on a ridge overlooking Hatun Wayq'o, a 4½-hour hike from Ccachín. There were three deslinde groups. One, lead by the varayoq of Qochayoq and Ccachín with the pututeros trumpeting their movement, took a circular route that ascended quickly to the pass between Qochayoq and Qelkanka, and then followed the territorial boundary southeastward along the ridge. This approach gave them control of the high ground. A second group, including the president of Ccachín and a number of community officials, took a direct route, crossing the valley floor and approaching the site from below. The vice-president of the community served as standard-bearer, leading this group behind the Peruvian flag. A third group, of comuneros-at-large, took a route that likewise put it quickly on the ridge, a truncated version of the route taken by the varayoq. All three groups reached the site within minutes of each other.

Immediately upon reaching the site, the president oversaw the construction of a mojón ('stone marker') to establish the community's claim. Gathered around the marker, flag raised high, community officials discussed strategy, and then passed it on to everyone gathered. Meanwhile a group from Chupani approached from the valley below (Figure 12.1). People were not sure what would happen, but many had brought slings and slingshots, expecting that there might be a fight. The Ccachín contingent numbered about 110 men, the Chupani contingent about seventy-five, a third women, some with children and infants. Upon their arrival, the villagers from Chupani stopped and sat as a group about 200 meters downhill from those of Ccachín, effectively blocking the placement of another marker along the boundary.

The Ccachín group was next to move, going down to meet the Chupani group for a face-to-face encounter. The leaders of the two communities came together, the president and vice-president negotiating for Ccachín. The flag was rolled up and put away, and the men from both sides gathered around their leaders. The women from Chupani formed a separate group a short distance from the men. While the men from both sides were relatively calm and quiet during the proceedings, allowing their representatives to do the talking, the women were angry and agitated, providing an outpouring of simultaneous, one-way commentary to the men, well-punctuated with "¡carajo!"s (a choice Andean expletive).⁽⁴⁾

During the discussions, the negotiators for Chupani presented their counterparts from Ccachín with two letters supporting their claim to the land from district and provincial authorities; the negotiators for Ccachín displayed the document giving them official title. While restating positions, the meeting did not lead to any new agreements. Upon a signal from the president, the Ccachín group broke for lunch, setting up in a sheltered spot amidst the bunch grass some fifty meters above the conference site. The folks from Chupani did likewise, going further up the hill to a spot that put them near the new boundary marker. Each comunero carried qoqaw ('traveler's food') -- with tamales, boiled corn, and charki being typical fare -- and we seated ourselves and shared food among small informal groups of relatives and friends (this is typical for a phayna, and contrasts with the more centralized arrangements of ayni and mink'a, where there is a single event sponsor). Chicha, trago, and coca were also shared within and occasionally across family groups. Near the end of the lunch break, the president of Ccachín approached me to request that I take a photo of the boundary marker that had been placed; soon after, however, he thought better of it, as the participants from Chupani had likewise been drinking, and he feared that taking the photo would incite an incident. As we all stood up to leave, the three negotiators from Chupani came down to see us off, shaking hands and exchanging coca with community officials.

To leave, we descended the ridge. No sooner than we were out of stone's throw range, we heard a commotion above, and turned around to see everyone from Chupani on their feet, hurling a volley of stones in our direction. Given the distance, the offensive was more a warning than an intent to do harm, but a number of the younger men from Ccachín stopped to consider what to do, uncomfortable with retreat in the face of the provocation. Chupani now had the strategic advantage, controlling the ridge, and the president of Ccachín urged everyone to continue on. The goal of placing a series of markers had not been met, but it was clear that it could not be achieved this day without a fight. We learned later that the Chupani group destroyed the boundary marker that we had placed before they left the site.

About half way back to Qochayoq, the group from Ccachín stopped to rest in a gentle pass called Pilpiq'asa. The area provided a natural amphitheater, and the group took advantage of the break to hold an impromptu assembly. Such informal assemblies are common after work parties, but notes are not taken, and they are not recorded in the Libro de Actas. The roll call of participants was conducted at this time. The roll calls bring everyone together at the end of every phayna, creating an opportunity for such assemblies. In terms of group process, it assures that no one leaves early, and provides effective closure to the event.⁽⁵⁾ The spatial arrangement of participants in these phayna assemblies tends to be mildly hierarchical, with the president of the community, flanked by the pututeros, facing the rest....

During the assembly, the comuneros discussed the events of the day, and what to do to complete the marking of the contested territory. The president read aloud the letters presented him by the people from Chupani. The gathering decided that it would return on a future date with greater force, this time with all of the men (only about half were present) including those from Rayankancha. They also agreed that next time they would include the women in their expedition as Chupani had done. Finally, they determined that they would approach the prefect in Calca about the problem, and solicit the aid of the guardia civil ('policemen', 'guardsmen') for the return.

The final stage of deslinde took place in Qochayoq. The women from Ccachín hiked to Qochayoq in the afternoon to meet the returning men, and all joined together there for a feast. Before the meal, the president of Ccachín exhibited the land title and a map of the community, reaffirming the community's rights to the pastures in dispute. Qochayoq's grade-school teacher greeted the guests from Ccachín with a short welcoming speech and read the place-names of the land claimed from the map. The vice-president of Ccachín led everyone in a rallying cry -- "Viva los campesinos, Kawsaychu kampisinukuna" ('Long live the campesinos' repeated in Spanish and Quechua) -- and launched into a political speech in support of the FDCC (of which he was the local representative), until quieted by several in the crowd, who suggested that he should save it for another time. The centerpiece of the event was the meal. This was a major outing for people in Ccachín, and except for election day in Lares, the only time that the comuneros customarily visit another community en masse. The alcalde and varayoq of Qochayoq hosted the event and provided food for all. Ch'uñu, moraya, and a soup of potatoes and mutton were served, along with chicha, trago and coca. As on election day, the women in each family also prepared a meal to take along. Tamales, chicharones ('fried pork') and other special foods were shared within and across family groups. Unlike the example of municipal and presidential elections, where people sit in extended family groups, men and women sat separately for the meal....⁽⁶⁾

A month after the deslinde, the comuneros in the anexo of Qochayoq decided to take matters into their own hands and went to the disputed territory alone to place the hitos. They did so without consulting the president of Ccachín, and without the aid of the mother community. They encountered superior forces at the site and were beaten back by a group from Chupani, suffering four casualties in the process. There seems to have been a difference in the sense of urgency that the two populations -- Ccachín and its anexo -- experienced the problem, a difference that matched their interests in the area. No one in Ccachín pastured animals in Hatun Wayq'o, and there was a limit to how much people wanted to sacrifice for their highland cousins and neighbors.⁽⁷⁾

Notes

1. Radcliffe (1989) provides a detailed description of boundary marking and walking traditions in another village in Calca. Since the deslinde I attended in Ccachín did not concern itself with existing boundary markers, I do not know if such activities as recital of the names of the community's apu at each station along the route, the hoisting of the flag from each marker, and the placing of flower-covered crosses on the markers are carried out, as documented by Radcliffe for her research community. While it would be interesting to map the geographical range of specific traits, the ethnographic literature does not provide enough detailed information about enough sites to do so.

2. My history on this is sketchy, and a determination of who first had the land probably depends on which side one talks to. Complicating matters, much of the area around Qochayoq was divided among haciendas, so that neither community may have had free access until after the agrarian reform.

3. The president of Ccachín told me that since villagers in Wakawasi and Chupani make their living by stealing animals rather than by raising them, they are outfitted with steel arms ("armas blancas") as tools of the trade, before which the comuneros in Ccachín have little match. I do not know if there is a factual basis for the reputation of these villages, or whether this is solely local prejudice. To the extent that there is truth to the allegations, people in Ccachín may be not only victims but beneficiaries of the thievery. When I asked the president where they marketed the stolen goods, he replied that "hasta a nosotros mismos nos venden" ('they even sell to us').

4. While the men -- "in the inner circle" -- struggled to hear their delegated authority, the women, outside, struggled to be heard. I should note that women are typically the herders in the household division of labor, and the most likely to have been familiar with and occupy the terrain. It's not surprising that they had strong feelings on the subject.

5. When the phayna takes place a considerable distance from the community, as with the boundary marking reported by Radcliffe (1989) and the one described here, the roll call may occur at an appropriate break in activities, rather than at the end of the activity. For control purposes, distance serves as effectively as timing in keeping the group together. What's important in deslinde is that the log of participants is registered before the group returns to the village for the follow-up feast, at which time participants and nonparticipants become indistinguishable within the crowd.

6. While the women do not normally carry food to the men during phayna (in contrast with ayni and mink'a, where the sponsor's wife and her aids carry food to the fields), deslinde was not the only event I attended where the women showed up with food. The day the tractor was brought to Ccachín, the men worked late into the night to finish the road ahead of the tractor's advance, and the women carried supper to them so that the men could maintain their work momentum. On that occasion, men and women also sat together in family groups. The rule of etiquette seems to be that if the event has a formal sponsor, hierarchical spatial arrangements are maintained. If not, people disperse into family groups. Note that men are the food servers.... Women always cook, but when an event has a host, men are the one's who carry and distribute the food.

7. Rasnake 1988 (88-89) provides a similar example from Bolivia in which land was effectively occupied and worked by people from one village for a long period of time, while those of another attempted to take it back (on paper at least, the second were the rightful owners). In the case he reports on, a rock battle escalated to the use of dynamite by the squatters. The police were called in to intervene, but at the time of his writing, the land remained in the hands of its unentitled holders.

References Cited

Allen, Catherine J.
1988 The Hold Life Has: Coca and Cultural Identity in an Andean Community. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.

Radcliffe, Sarah A.
1989 Marking the Boundaries between the Community, the State, and History in the Andes. Journal of Latin American Studies 22(3): 575-594.

Rasnake, Roger Weil
1988 Domination and Cultural Resistance: Authority and Power among an Andean People. Durham and London: Duke University Press.

Figure 12.1: Deslinde, Round of Village Boundaries