The mobilization of Quechua in media publics in Cusco tourism: A study of transient participation frames, collaborative authorship, and mediatized personhood in Cusqueña tourism media

In Cusco, Peru, heritage tourism is a powerful economic and social force. Focused on Machu Picchu\u27s Inca culture, the industry utilizes Quechua – the language spoken by the Inca – to commoditize and authenticate the tourism experience. The role of Quechua is variable, simultaneously an emblem of ancient Inca personhood and modern indigenous personhood. To explore and untangle Quechua\u27s impact, ethnographic, media and linguistic engagement is necessary. From 2009-2011, interviews, participant observation, collection of internet data, collection of Cusco media, and academic engagement informed this investigation. Quechua is today spoken by millions of people in the Andes. Written Quechua is prevalent in heritage tourism media projects as an iconic invocation of Inca past. Presuppositions of stereotyped linguistic abilities are present, as written Quechua tourism media is used for iconic recognition not linguistic communication. Spoken Quechua is strategically used by local speakers as an exclusionary force in tourism, communicating messages that tourists are not intended to understand, despite their co-presence. The relationship between models of past Inca personhood and present indigenous personhood is complex; often present-day individuals who embody emblems of Inca past, including Quechua ability, are restricted in their right to access Inca sites. The internet, however, has both changed international tourism logistics and created a space where presuppositions and stereotypes are challenged in collaboratively authored media. Beyond Quechua invoking personhood 500 years old, this digital space enables the association between Quechua and modernity, and complicates interpersonal dynamics of Quechua deployment. Throughout, it becomes quite clear that Quechua is an ethnocommodity in particular participation frameworks and not in others. Context is vital to understanding Quechua\u27s social influence in tourism, in Cusco, and online. This investigation, then, uses varying invocations of language across contexts to highlight the importance of shifting frameworks to commoditization projects and firmly underscores the folly of essentializing contextual interactions