Blog 2: Readings Class 1

"The Lettered City" and Reflections on 'Permanence'

One thing that struck me in particular was the construction of the written word as permanent or “binding” versus the spoken word as impermanent or “uncertain”. On page 6, Rama describes how the act of writing out the “order” for the city gave permanence to it, and how the colonization rendered spoken language as “precarious”. Given the context of spoken languages lost due to the cultural and literal violence of colonization, there is an element of impermanence to the spoken word that I am currently reflecting on. In my own life, I certainly place very different but equally important weight on both written and oral communication. I feel that I value the written word for self-reflection and use, but spoken for communication with others.

From what I know about the rich and longstanding oral history traditions of many Indigenous groups, ‘permanence’ can take on many forms, it all depends on if the environment allows for the language to continue to thrive. The environment of colonization, whether it be settler colonialism or the more administrative city and labour based colonialism that occurred in much of South America, is certainly not ideal for the continued permanence of Indigenous oral language traditions. Linking to the concept of terra nullius, the foundation of the Doctrine of Discovery, the (not always successful) erasure of both Indigenous city planning and language is closely linked to the European’s perceived authority over non-Christian lands. The conquistador’s (and their royal sponsors) belief in their inherent superiority over the Indigenous extended beyond their literal conquest of land, to their conquest of culture in all forms. I guess what I am trying to say is, the European idea of ‘permanence’ conflicted heavily with Indigenous understandings, and because of the violent imposition of colonial structures onto Indigenous peoples, often non-written means of maintaining the permanence of language was not suitable to the conditions of colonization. 

Today at Museo Larco, our guide talked a lot about the cyclical nature of Ancient Peruvian culture’s belief systems. Cycles are their own form of permanence, and are in many cases a more sustainable means of permanence; cycles occurring in the world’s natural processes come to mind (carbon, nitrogen etc.). Rama describes how the “circular plans perhaps conveyed even more precisely than square ones the social hierarchy desired by the planners,” explaining how the administration was purposefully located in the centre, with “living spaces assigned to respective social strata radiating from the center in concentric circles.” (Rama 5) There is a permanence in that act of separation based on class, and of placing the centre of administration literally in the centre. I guess I am really reflecting on the idea and constructions, physical and non-physical, of ‘permanence’ in a colonized society, and the implications that colonization has on the ‘permanence’ of pre-existing cultural features, again physical and non-physical. This leads me to question if the erasure of something due to outside forces beyond the control of its people makes it lose its ‘permanence’? Does the wide scale loss of Indigenous languages, cities, cultural knowledge and histories due to colonization (or even other outside factors) make those things ‘impermanent’?