Abstract
In highland Andean communities, certain miniatures inspire complex emotions that go beyond the aesthetic. I have previously examined “pebble play” during pilgrimages, in which devotees make requests of a mountain/saint by building miniature stone house compounds. Here, I explore other types of miniature, in particular tiny stone camelids (inqaychus) considered as gifts from powerful places that invigorate the herds. Guided by Quechua terminology, I explore the ontological assumption that material things such as inqaychus possess subjective personhood. Materiality, composed of nesting hierarchies, is not independent of human activity and moral relationship. I amplify my earlier analysis—which interpreted “pebble play” as characterized by synecdoche and play with dimensionality—using terminology drawn from fractal geometry to approximate a world characterized by dynamic changes in scale and interchangeability of parts and wholes. I conclude by contrasting inqaychus with alasitas (mass-produced miniatures pu...
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