The Construction of the Migrant Subject in the Section “Camina el autor” of El primer Nueva Corónica y Buen Gobierno by Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala

Abstract

This article examines the construction of the migrant subject in the section “Camina el autor” of El primer Nueva corónica y buen gobierno by Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala, drawing on the theoretical category developed by Antonio Cornejo Polar. The study
is situated within the field of Andean colonial literary studies and engages in dialogue with major critical approaches to the Nueva corónica, particularly those addressing the figure of the author, mestizo chronicles, and discursive heterogeneity. From a hermeneutic perspective, the analysis explores Guaman Poma’s self-representation as a subject who moves between the Republic of Indians and the Republic of Spaniards, foregrounding the conflictive, fragmented, and non-syncretic nature of this experience. The article argues that “Camina el autor” constitutes a foundational text of the Andean migrant literary tradition, insofar as it articulates a decentered subjectivity shaped by displacement, the memory of the precolonial past, and the hostile experience of the colonial order. Furthermore, it contends that the figure of the pilgrim functions as a rhetorical strategy of legitimation and reivindication before the Spanish Crown, while simultaneously reinforcing the heterogeneous condition of the enunciating subject.