HISTORICAL THEORY THROUGH A PERUVIAN LOOKING GLASS

In this article for the theme issue on “Historical Theory in a Global Frame,” I argue that “Peru” is a “historical theory in a global frame.” The theory or, as I prefer, theoretical event, named Peru was born global in an early colonial “abyss of history” and elaborated in the writings of colonial and postcolonial Peruvian historians. I suggest that the looking glass held up by Peruvian historiography is of great potential significance for historical theory at large, since it is a two‐way passageway between the ancient and the modern, the Old World and the New, the East and the West. This slippery passageway enabled some Peruvian historians to move stealthily along the bloody cutting‐edge of global history, at times anticipating and at others debunking well‐known developments in “European” historical theory. Today, a reconnaissance of Peruvian history's inner recesses may pay dividends for a historical theory that would return to its colonial and global origins.