Resumen de Tres ciudades alineadas. Cajamarca, la paz y asunción, tres desafíos de cultura primigenia para abordar la regeneración de sus centros
Eduard Rodríguez i Villaescusa
The central concept of the present thesis is that the sense of belonging underlying heritage should be rooted in a strong community-based feeling. Sure enough, historical assets are looked at with a feeling of admiration coupled with a certain detachment. Heritage, however, is based on an inherent sense of belonging and it is therefore endowed with a representative power. In this respect, any historical asset likely to become part of the common heritage –thus considered as a social asset belonging to the collective memory of its community– must comprise a set of identity-based factors that should work as the link between the aforementioned heritage and collective memory.
Within this framework, we will consider that the Colonial Centers of the three cities under study are mainly perceived by the general population as historical assets, but are not deeply-rooted in their social memory. Such assets can be assigned no further interest other than being considered as monumental ensembles; consequently, they are not considered attractive enough to be perceived as urban centers.
According to the interpretation of the present thesis, the above situation may be due to the fact that, in the memory of the population under study, its precolonial reality still subsists. Their members still recognize themselves in the language, religious worships and rituals of their earlier historical reality. A reality which was, in fact, able to institute government structures and a social and territorial organization that still subsists today.
This is why, although traces of the short colonial period can still be found, they have not been rooted deeply enough in the common heritage for these Colonial Centers to be seen as the main representatives of the native people's identity. As a result of a poor integration process, their identity reaffirmed itself in the precolonial native values and professed a firm rejection, a rejection that can still be found in the form of a “Damero”. Thus, the resulting urban structure “Damero” is therefore related to a certain property scheme and to specific habitat and social composition models that differ quite significantly from those the native population used to have in the past and are still practiced.
The present thesis aims to shed some light on a number of key questions in order to help elucidate: . Whether the population segment descending from the native people –which constitutes a vast majority in the region under study– is inclined to consider Colonial Centers as places of Memory. . Whether of city Centers –were thus loaded with all sorts of religious, political and economic attributes coming from overseas– was able to develop some degree of acknowledgment among the native population in accordance with the wishes, efforts and assimilation goals of the Spanish Crown and the Holy See.
Finally, the thesis has concluded that the Colonial Centers of all the cities that were part in earlier times of the Inca territory only embody the memory of a minority of their inhabitants. In fact they have, on the contrary, nourished a certain form of resentment towards a rather important percentage of the population. Therefore, any project involving the regeneration of these urban Centers is confronted with a general lack of interest inasmuch as it involves the revival of a colonizing matrix which is only seen as the witness of another civilization altogether.
In conclusion, having identified the disconnection between the urban colonial heritage and the cultural legacy of the heirs to the preceding generations, we are faced with the reality of three cities whose centers do not represent the central urban space traditionally perceived as a deeply valued and highly symbolical space. As we will try to prove, this is due to the fact that the policies implemented have not resulted from a common and shared project with the participation of the true protagonists of the city –to whom any regeneration program should be aimed at.
