This article will examine the causes, sources and processes of the anthropological conceptualization of the concept of indio —understood as object of study— taken place in Cusco, from the institutional foundation of the discipline in 1942 to its first great crisis in 1973. In that regard, I propose that said processes of conceptualization were determined by the social and political conditions surrounding anthropologists, in connection to the trending anthropological theory at the time and the institutional situation of the discipline. All this, in relation to specific ideological contexts —such as the indigenisms— and sociopolitical contexts —such as social revolts.

This article will examine the causes, sources and processes of the anthropological conceptualization of the concept of indio —understood as object of study— taken place in Cusco, from the institutional foundation of the discipline in 1942 to its first great crisis in 1973. In that regard, I propose that said processes of conceptualization were determined by the social and political conditions surrounding anthropologists, in connection to the trending anthropological theory at the time and the institutional situation of the discipline. All this, in relation to specific ideological contexts —such as the indigenisms— and sociopolitical contexts —such as social revolts.

Explica las causas, fuentes y procesos de conceptualización antropológica sobre el indio —entendido como objeto de estudio— que se desarrollaron en Cusco, desde 1942, año de fundación institucional de la disciplina, hasta 1973, año de su primera gran crisis. En ese sentido, como hipótesis general, se plantea que dichos procesos de conceptualización estuvieron condicionados por la manera en cómo se configuraron las condiciones sociales y políticas de los antropólogos, la teoría antropológica que se leía por esos años y la situación institucional de la disciplina en Cusco, frente a determinados contextos locales, nacionales e internacionales.