Sabine Hyland is an anthropologist and ethnohistorian her work explores the little-known cultures of the Andes, both past and present. Her research has taken her to remote mountain villages in Central and Southern Peru to meet with native community leaders as well as with local healers and diviners. She also investigates archives in Peru and Spain, analyzing 400-year old manuscripts for the information they reveal about the Inka past. . . .
Is this young Andean woman a victim of Father Albadán’s abuse? Is she his cook, Francisca, whom he forced to work for him through fear? And if so, did she slip some fatal herbs into his soup one day? I chose this haunting image for the cover of The Chankas and the Priest to represent both Albadán’s victims and the woman who may have brought about his untimely demise. It was important to me that there be a native Andean
My recent fieldwork in the Andes has enabled me to understand the significance of the two most common colour patterns — colour banding and seriation — on khipus! Thanks to many people who helped me in the field, especially Mecias Pumajulka, the grandson of the last khipukamayoq in Anchucaya! Thanks also to National Geographic Society’s Global Exploration Fund for their support! The Journal of Material Culture has accepted my article, “How Khipus Indicated Labour Contributions in an Andean Village” for
http://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-07122-0.html How does society deal with a serial killer in its midst? What if the murderer is a Catholic priest living among native villagers in colonial Peru? In The Chankas and the Priest, Sabine Hyland chronicles the horrifying story of Father Juan Bautista de Albadán, a Spanish priest to the Chanka people of Pampachiri in Peru from 1601 to 1611. During his reign of terror over his Andean parish, Albadán was guilty of murder, sexual abuse, sadistic torture, and theft