Blog Post 3: Essentialism

 Energy Vortex and New Age Spirituality

While the blog series has explored the broader place essentialism of the Machu Picchu several layers remain to be unpacked. Several smaller forms of essentialism serve to contribute to this greater misunderstanding, one of the most glaring being the promotion of Machu Picchu as an “energy vortex” and the rise of “spiritual tourism.”

Numerous online organisations promote travel to Machu Picchu and use this spiritualism as a means of enticing foreigners. “Ticket Machu Picchu” is an example of this, going so far as to assert that the “recurrent tremors and earthquakes” provoke the “energy” tourists feel in the mountain. These tours often frame the historic site as a means of personal discovery and cosmic power – fitting the Western New Age form of spirituality. This is a compelling means of drawing in tourists, but one that detracts from historical, scientific, and cultural complexity. As Massey (1995) explains, essentialist narratives often rely on a fixed idea of place, ignoring its dynamism and the multiple stories that intersect within it. This idea plays out at Machu Picchu, where spirituality often overshadows the site's evolving cultural reality.

Despite this, it would be disingenuous to cast all organisations under the same light. There exist several more recent tourism groups that frame the travel around the Incan way of life, acknowledge the Machu Picchu as a “testament” to the Incan people (Kondor Paths Tours). By representing the Incan culture and history of the mountain city through the tourism, the essentialist outlook is directly challenged, though the risk of stereotyping or commodifying the culture remains.

Ultimately, place essentialism in the Machu Picchu is an ongoing problem. It reduces a complex, live culture into a marketable brand for tourists at the expense of an evolving community. Whether the overall disregard for Incan knowledge or the more niche compartmentalisation into an “energy vortex,” it is only through engagement and learning that essentialism can be opposed.

Massey, Doreen (1995). 'Places and Their Pasts'. History Workshop Journal, 39(1):182-192.

Ticket Machu Picchu. (n.d.). Machu Picchu energy and spirituality. https://www.ticketmachupicchu.com/machu-picchu-energy-vortex

 

Kondor Paths Tours. (n.d.). Machu Picchu Inca history and tours. https://www.kondorpathtours.com