Publications and Research
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Fall 2025
Abstract
This article examines the contributions of Afro-descendants to the Túpac Amaru II rebellion in Peru. It argues that although historians have recognized the importance of race and casta in the rebellion, they have been insufficiently attentive to the complex roles that those of African descent have played. It argues that the most famous Afro-descendant, Antonio Oblitas, has often been ignored, misidentified, and minimized in his aesthetic and visual contributions to the uprising. This problematic historical approach extends to other free and enslaved men because scholars place them within the paradigm of passive (and enslaved) servitude. Furthermore, the article contends that Indigenous and Black relationality during the uprising cannot be reduced to dominant discourses of enmity and conflict in light of the regional networks of kinship, patronage, and labor in which Afro-descendants were enmeshed. Relatedly, it argues that Black and Indigenous relationality during the rebellion needs to be understood within eighteenth century anti-colonial thought and practice which opposed European norms of ethics and morality.
