MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY— GILIJN 



153 



emphasis. Although there is not space to demon- 

 strate this fact in the present paper, it may be 

 appreciated by consultation of published sources (e. 

 -. Kubler, 1946; Tschopik, 1946; Mishkin, 1946). 

 In Peru it is generally recognized by the public that 

 an individual has ceased to practice a Native culture 

 when he no longer lives in a tribe or communally 

 organized group (ayllu, etc.), no longer wears a 

 "native" costume, and when he no longer speaks 

 some indigenous language either exclusively or as his 

 primary language. These are the generally recog- 

 nized status marks, although, like all symbols, they 

 suggest rather than describe the differences between 

 the cultures which they represent. 



The Creole culture in general (ignoring for the 

 moment its regional and local subtypes) is still in 

 process of consolidation. The society which it serves 

 is a class society and the Creole culture manifests 

 itself in various forms that are related to the various 

 categories of the society, as well as in geographical 

 peculiarities. Thus, many members of the "sophisti- 

 cated," "cosmopolitan" set in Lima might perhaps at 

 first deny any Creole content in their culture, for 

 much of their prestige depends upon their having 

 assimilated the manners and mode of life of such 

 "cultural centers" as New York or Paris. Yet, it is 

 probable that a careful study would reveal the 

 presence in the higher social strata of certain cultural 

 common denominators of the Creole culture of Peru, 

 and that this will become a matter of local pride. 

 For our hypothesis is that the Creole culture, which 

 may some day justly be called Peruvian culture, is 

 not a servile copying of either foreign or indigenous 

 models, but a new and vigorous expression of 

 national life. This is what is actually meant by the 

 word Peruanidad, in addition to its purely national- 

 istic and political sigtiificance. The Peruvian Creole 

 culture is a new synthesis. If it is still in process 

 of integration, it is nevertheless the framework of the 

 future ; if it is not yet universal to all citizens of the 

 nation, the chances are that, in one form or another, 

 it will be. It is at least a tenable hypothesis that 

 both the present Republican Native cultures and such 

 importations from abroad as still persist in the 

 countr}' will eventually either be absorbed by the 

 Creole culture or be crowded out of national life. 



Moche is merely a case in point. A generation 

 ago it apparently was classifiable as a Native culture, 

 more indigenous than Creole. But by 1944 it had 

 swung over to the other side of the line; it is now 

 more Creole than Native. The same change is 



653348°-^?— 11 



taking place every year — subtly, slowly, almost im- 

 perceptibly, to be sure — in scores of Peruvian com- 

 munities throughout the coast and the Sierra, and 

 even in the Montana (e. g., Tingo Maria, Pucallpa, 

 Pantoja, etc.). 



A number of "movements" have arisen whose 

 object has been to halt this trend of creolization and 

 whose jniblicity has occasionally confused the foreign 

 observer. Thus, "Indigenismo" believes that the real 

 future of the bulk of Peruvians lies in strengthening 

 and preserving the Republican Native cultures and 

 even in fortifying the indigenous elements thereof. 

 The proponents of Hispanismo see the true cultural 

 future of Peru in a return to the fundamentals of 

 classic Spanish culture.*' And the partizans of 

 "Modernismo" would do away with indigenous and 

 colonial elements alike, and convert Peru into a 

 Spanish-speaking United States (or a Spanish- 

 speaking version of some European country of their 

 predilection). 



It is doubtful that any of these movements will 

 ever completely attain its objective in the sense that 

 any particular set of cultural elements for which the 

 proponents respectively argue will become exclusive 

 in the culture of Peru. But, if they will examine the 

 emerging Creole culture, they will see that something 

 from each of their favorite cultures has been woven 

 into the fabric of Peruvian life. 



To turn once again to Moche, it is clear that the 

 Mocheros conform to the common Peruvian defini- 

 tion of a Creole : they have no tribe or organized 

 community, they wear European clothing (except for 

 a few old women), and they speak Spanish exclu- 

 sively. The style of their clothing and the style of 

 their life may be somewhat "quaint," but they are 

 fundamentally neither aboriginal nor foreign. Yet 

 the indigenous elements, often in modified form, are 

 numerous. 



If we attempt to sort out the elements of Moche 

 culture which seem to be derived from indigenous 

 sources, most of those in actual function at the present 

 day appear to be referable to a "Pan-Peruvian" in- 

 digenous base rather than specifically to discrete cul- 

 tures of antiquity known from the chronicles and from 

 archeology. This conclusion must be qualified by the 

 admission that historical and archeological records are 

 too incomplete to permit a more precise tracing of 

 aboriginal antecedents in many cases. Also, we must 



^ The late Dr. Jos^ de la Riva-Agiiero was a leading exponent of 

 tliis point of view in some of his historical writings. See particularly 

 the essays, "En el dfa de la raza" and "Algunas reflexiones sobre la 

 ^poca cspafiola en el Peru'* (Riva-Argiiero, 1938). 



