Qhapaq Ñan, a geo-photographic and documentary inventory of the inca road system (2007-2010)

• ¿ Qué  representación de los caminos precolombinos ? Una mirada hacia los paisajes culturales y sociales : historias de vida e inventario geográfico (Ecuador, Perú, Bolivia, 2007 – 2010).

Qhapaq Ñan, a geo-photographic and documentary inventory of the inca road system (2007-2010), written and directed by Sébastien Jallade (may 2010, © Qhapaq-Ñan.org, as part of a research program directed by Olivier Archambeau, Pôle image, University of Paris-VIII, Vincennes-Saint-Denis, France). This website includes:

• a geographic inventory of landscapes and contemporary life focusing on the expression of cultures and societies along the Qhapaq Ñan in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador : pictures, oral histories, landscapes...
• a corpus of photos, audios and videos oral histories taken along the Qhapaq Ñan, duly annotated, documented, commented and indexed, freely accessible to all by means of a multi-criteria and updatable search engine;
• a Google map of GPS localized data available for the first time on the net.

The inventory

The inventory of the network of pre-columbian paths and Inca road system is divided into ten categories:

• Cardinal points (GPS localization with four photos -North 360°, West 90°, South 180°, East 270°- taken  every 12 or 15 kilometers along 3,000 kilometers);
• Four geographical settings  ("Natural space", "Rural space", Industrial space", "Urban space"), each classified  according to landscapes, settlements, technologies, means of communication, transport infrastructures and public utilities, (energy,  telecoms,  water).
• Four items  related to human activities ("Human beings", "Construction and civil or religious architecture", "Artefacts", "Archeological or heritage sites") describing Andean cultures and societies in their environments: types of informal economy, life scenes, public infrastructure, beliefs, etc.
• A section giving testimonies of people living in the regions surveyed (priests, miners, farmers, guides, students...), as well as group life scenes (masses, pilgrimages, street protests...): so far about twenty hours of audio recording and video.

 The inventory also includes:

• For each pictures and sounds, annotated, documented, commented and indexed sheets  with date of recording, location, main ecosystem, and, eventually, key words, GPS localization data and altitude, short description of the Qhapaq Ñan and how far it is used today, name of the authors and a detailed presentation of the local context and issues. 
• A google map of the Qhapaq Ñan showing several hundreds of geo-referenced points.

Geographic database : here.

The inventory will be gradually completed by December 31st, 2011.

Oral histories, recordings, and contemporary life

Since his first trip along the Qhapaq Ñan, Sébastien Jallade has complemented his geo-photographic work with interviews of people living in the region. He recorded about thirty hours of interviews of priests, miners, students, musicians, children, painters or farmers, as well as  religious ceremonies, community radio programs, speeches at village markets or pilgrimage sites. Part of this work was used for the documentary film,  Qhapaq Ñan, la voix des Andes.

From 2008 to 2010, he pursued this activity in the framework of his geo-photographic inventory of the Qhapaq Ñan and of his second documentary film about  a community radio in Quillabamba.

All audio recordings and videos - some are translated, others are in Spanish only - can be found in this section, duly annotated, documented, commented and indexed. The idea is to put the spotlight not on the Qhapaq Ñan per se, but rather on oral histories, social and cultural lives of the people living there and on their relationships to their environment.

• All the oral histories and recordings : here

© Qhapaq-Nan.org - Sébastien Jallade. All rights reserved, texts, photos, images and sound, 2010.