Ethnic Conflict, Moral Economy, and Population in Rural Cuzco on the Eve of the Thupa Amaro II Rebellion
IN recent years there has been renewed scholarly interest as to the causes and significance of the Thupa Amaro ' rebellion that exploded on the colonial landscape of rural Cuzco in 1780 and quickly spread through much of the southern Andes. This interest was spurred by the Peruvian military government's use of Thupa Amaro as a symbol of its commitment to social change after it took power in 1968 and by the flurry of publications and events surrounding the bicentenary of the rebellion in 1980. While most of the writings have focused on the leadership of the movement and the colonial demands imposed on the native peoples, or naturales, recent research has begun to shift attention ever closer to the Indians themselves, as scholars try to understand the roots of change and social violence.2 However, due to its complexity and scope, no single analysis adequately explains the Thupa Amaro rebellion. An analvsis that seems convincing at the level of the state loses much of its explanatory power when events are seen from the