Falling in love is the easy part. But when two people from opposite ends of the globe join their lives together, there are inevitably times when the infamous ‘clash of cultures’ raises its ugly head. There’s no sugar coating it. Sometimes intercultural marriage gets you bent out of shape. In my humble opinion, best chance of success: focus on what unites rather than on what divides you. Reach for the spaces in between.
It’s
probably no great surprise then if I say that I’m not a great fan of
nationalism. Sitting round numerous dinner tables on
nearly all the world's continents, it sometimes feels like I’ve had to listen to just about
every nationality declaim on just about every other nationality in any number of permutations.
What I like about Tello is that, although he undoubtedly had a strong
nationalist vision, he worked happily with, and had great respect for his
foreign counterparts. He was an Indian from the rural highlands who was at the
same time an internationalist. In short he was comfortable with his place in
the world. I think he had found his space in between.
That said, both Tello and tio Hernan were active participants
in the indigenous movement
which had begun to develop in Lima's intellectual circles in the opening decades
of the twentieth century.
It’s
worth bearing in mind that this is a time when congress still debated the ‘Indian
problem’, with proposals such as the prohibition of reproduction by Indians and
the importation of superior races from Western Europe seriously considered as viable
solutions.
Tello was one of the first social
scientists to rigorously confront the idea that Peru’s indigenous cultures were inferior
to those of the Spanish conquistadores.
All in good humour
In which our archaeologist indulges in a bit of good natured Hispanism vs Indigenism banter.
When
the XXVII Congress of Americanists was held in Lima, Tello would recount to us
each day on returning to the museum everything about the day’s happenings at
the Congress. One day he couldn’t stop laughing. As the delegates were leaving
they had seen a notice pinned up near the exit.
‘Would the brachycephologist who mistakenly took a hat similar to his,
please return said hat as soon as possible to the dolicocefalogist,’ signed
Posnanski.
