Katherine Parkins

Lima's Jubilations and Royal Festivities: Representing the Incas in Colonial Lima

In 1721 festivities were carried out in the vice-regal capital of Peru, Lima to commemorate the marriage of the Prince of Asturias. Pedro de Peralta Barnuevo wrote an account of the celebrations which included a procession in which local native leaders dressed and paraded as the twelve Inca kings. This representation is the focus of my dissertation.

Having grown up in Peru, my dissertation topic is largely a result of this personal connection with the country. Before starting the History of Design MA at the RCA and Victoria and Albert Museum, I had read modern history.

This focus on design has contributed to my redefining and understanding material objects as historical sources. The Spanish conquest had a profound impact on native Andean material culture and visual forms of expression and thus history of design is a particularly important and interesting avenue for colonial Andean studies.

My discussion is based on theories regarding hybridity, an inherent element of colonisation and, in turn, how objects played an important role in conveying ideas regarding ethnicity and identity in this new colonial context. In particular, I am interested in considering the way in which clothes in the procession were modified and resignified from their traditional models, in order to speak within a European system of representation.

I hope to find a curatorial post which will allow me to carry out further research in this area in a museum context.