Doctoral Dissertation Research: Scientific Expeditions, Social Discoveries: Hiram Bingham and the Making of Machu Picchu

University Of Florida, Gainesville FL

Investigators

Abstract

This dissertation research project seeks to map the ways in which early scientific practices and visual technologies have contributed to the cultural imagining and production of Peru's Machu Picchu. Discovered in 1911 by the Yale Peruvian Expedition (YPE) led by Hiram Bingham, Machu Picchu was not simply unveiled to a global public. Rather, the YPE initiated the framing of the site as a scientific and Incan find, which was soon reframed in Peru as a nativist utopia and national treasure. The translation of crumbling walls and weedy remains of a mountainous ridge into "Machu Picchu: Incan heritage site" involved not only archaeological excavation and reconstruction, but a host of other tools and technologies. Technologies such as photography and visualization, map-making, the conduct and practices of scientific exploration, and particular readings of the historical record were all invoked in specific ways. Drawing on texts from turn of the twentieth-century Andean explorations, YPE papers, Peruvian archives, and ethnographic interviews and observations, this project investigates the ways in which expeditionary practices, social networks, and visual technologies were instrumental in shaping the social meaning of Machu Picchu. Intellectual Merit: This project promises a needed account not only of Machu Picchu and the formation of a global popular imaginary of Peru and the Andes, but of the interplay between science, the popularization of evidence, and the forces of nation-making in the 20th century international system. The time period in question and the social construction of Machu Picchu are not well studied. Much of the research conducted on scientific expeditions in South America has focused on expeditions that pre-date the twentieth century (e.g. Pratt 1992, Miller and Reill 1996). By focusing on Bingham's early twentieth century expeditions, this research examines not only the scientific practices, social networks and Peruvian resistance efforts by which the YPE came to discover and construct Machu Picchu as a global property but also how visual expeditionary technologies were instrumental in shaping the site into national and world heritage. Locating the scientific discovery of Machu Picchu within a history of scientific expeditions and in a particular moment in scientific technologies may provide insight into how science and society have mutually informed one another and how the present meanings of Machu Picchu are rooted in a particular political and technological past. Through its focus on Peru's most well known UNESCO World Heritage site, this project will also contribute substantially to debates on the global production of scientific knowledge and cultural heritage formation. Broader Impact: This research could not be timelier. In December 2005, the Peruvian nation threatened to sue Yale University for repatriation of artifacts taken from Machu Picchu (Brodzinsky 2005). Although this challenge came as a shock to most of the world, for those familiar with Peruvian politics and history, this move was seen as long overdue (e.g. Mould de Pease 2001, 2003). Since its global debut in 1911 Machu Picchu has found itself identified as both an object of scientific inquiry critical to global insight and as a sacred symbol of Peruvian heritage and patrimony. Since 1911, these identities have clashed. An investigation into this conflict promises to enhance our tolerance and understanding of these seemingly incompatible though interconnected perspectives. If we are to understand the social effects of archaeological practices and the motivations involved in repatriation, it is essential to have a detailed ethnography of the historical processes involved to inform responses. When the research is complete, the dissertation will then be finished, and the results in it will be published in papers. Lectures will be given to both North American and South American audiences in an effort to broaden our understanding of the site, its history, its current global position and the people who call the area home.