Cádiz en Lima: de las fiestas absolutistas a las fiestas constitucionalistas en la fundación simbólica de una nueva era

Abstract

This article examines a selection of celebrations and ceremonies forming part of liberal political culture and, which enlivened life for the inhabitants of Lima between 1812 and 1813, the pinnacle of Cadiz liberalism. It analyzes the ritual forms of production, staging, and appropriation of new vocabularies, values, and notions of authority on the part of diverse actors. It is based on the premise that ritual is the privileged channel through which such vocabulary, values, and notions are legitimized, making it a fi eld of ideological tension. The celebrations and ceremonies appear as pedagogical apparatuses promoted principally by the elite, combining traditional with innovative resources. In this moment of monarchical crisis and reform they acquire new meanings and attempt to be models of experience, identity and collective memory. The article also demonstrates that these apparatuses are the object of differential appropriations and interpretations by the groups and individuals that participate in them in accordance with their own desires and interests.