>> Julio Noriega: My
name is Julio Noriega.
As a professor of Latin American
Cultures and Literatures
at Knox College, I teach Migrant
Literature, Andean Cultures,
and Indigenous Literature
courses, among other classes.
My research on Quechua
poetry has began decades ago,
in the 80s, when I left
my teaching position
at the University of San
Cristo bal de Huamanga
in Ayacucho, Peru, and became
a fellow at the University
of Pittsburgh's Hispanic
Literatures Doctorate Program
in Pennsylvania.
Influenced by feelings of
nostalgia for the Andes of Peru,
in Pittsburgh, I decided
to write my dissertation
on Quechua poetry.
Initially, I did
not realize how much
of a challenge it would prove
to be, being at that time full
of youth and nai ve to the path
that my research would take me.
Having survived the rise of the
Shining Path political movement
in Ayacucho, I felt
encouraged to take
on this mountainous endeavor.
My point of embarkation to
this hopeful adventure was
at the Hillman Library in
Pittsburg, where after weeks
of research I found the work
of Quechua poets Jose Maria
Arguedas and Killku Waraka,
pseudonym of Andres Alencastre.
I could have written a
dissertation about them alone;
however, my interest to discover
and unveil other Quechua poets
not well known had already
been peaked.
Sporadic reading encounters
of local poets in Ayacucho,
Cusco and Puno as well as
the work of Andean immigrants
in Lima that I had read during
my prior college years in Peru,
motivated me to apply for the
Tinker Field research grant.
With grant funding in hand,
I began my field research
in private and public archives
of the most important cities
of Peru, gathering poetry work
of unknown poets in Quechua.
On my return to Pittsburg,
using the materials I was able
to gather, I submitted
my dissertation project
to the Committee chaired
by Antonio Cornejo Polar
and it was approved.
Two years later I completed the
first draft of my dissertation,
a literary essay on contemporary
Peruvian poetry, in Quechua,
of course, along with an
appendix of the poetry work
of more than 40 poets.
This voluminous work
was later divided
into two separate works per
Cornejo Polar's recommendation.
The essay itself that became my
dissertation and the appendix,
which was published in 1993
as the first Peruvian
bilingual anthology
of modern poetry
written in Quechua
and translated into Spanish.
Even more rewarding
was when the essay
of my dissertation won the
Letras de Oro literary prize
in 1994, awarded by
the University of Miami
and the General Consulate
of Spain.
Notwithstanding its
recognition, my research met
with little reception initially
for the Quechua language
and culture were not quite
popular neither in Peru nor
in the USA at that point.
Due to the political situation
and violence in Peru at the end
of the 20th century,
the Peruvian governmental
institutions isolated
and discriminated
against Quechua language
by linking its population
of speakers with terrorism
and Shining Path or Tupac
Amaru guerrilla movements.
Thus, researching Quechua
made you very suspicious
of onlookers.
In addition, the Peruvian
army associated the presence
of field researchers
with the guerrilla group
and the local people
with the army's spy work.
Few openly expressed
interest in learning Quechua
in Peru's major cities.
On the other hand, some poets
or their relatives imagined
that I was making thousands
of dollars promoting
their work in the USA.
Furthermore, there
weren't opportunities
for teaching Quechua literature.
Few centers for Latin
American Studies
at prestigious universities
like Gainesville-Florida,
Cornell- Ithaca,
Illinois-Champaign
and Wisconsin-Madison used
to offer language classes
for students of Andean
anthropology
but not literature classes.
Thus, my entire career in
the USA has followed the path
of a generalist professor in
the field of Spanish language,
culture, and literature.
The current situation looks
more optimistic in Peru as well
as in the USA, especially
with the forthcoming cultural
and academic activities,
events, contests, and festivals
in celebration of the 2022
to 2032 International Decade
of Indigenous Languages
around the world.
Peru is experiencing a
literary boom, the golden age,
of its Quechua poetry
and native production.
There is also a newly created
national award for writers
in Indigenous languages.
Peru even has awarded two
writers the National Literary
Prizes in Quechua: Pablo
Landeo in narrative
and Washington Cordova,
in poetry.
I am pleased that there's
been an uptick of interest
in this field as of late.
There are many young
poets participating
in poetry readings,
including remotely.
There are also various
literary journals, blogs,
Google translator,
newspapers, workshops
and language classes in Quechua.
Now people feel that learning
Quechua is really cool.
Even in the USA, the interest in
Indigenous languages is growing.
There are new Indigenous
language institutes
and more classes are being
implemented with the goal
of increasing the presence
of BIPOC culture on campus.
Included among them is the
Spanish Program of Knox College
that supported me
with the development
of my two course series
on Bilingual Indigenous
Literature of the Americas.
Indeed, this is a promising
moment for the future
of Indigenous languages,
and especially
for Quechua language
and its literature.
I am of the opinion that the
Quechua literary phenomenon
that we enjoy today is a result
of the work of our predecessors.
Professors who, within
the classroom,
were able to mold our thinking.
Artists, musicians, actors,
activists and writers who,
beyond the academy, broke
the cultural complex
of feeling embarrassed
and inferior
about speaking an
Indigenous language.
Their contributions
created the ideal climate
for this flourishing
literary moment.
I am very pleased
that my preparation
of comprehensive
anthologies of Peruvian
and Bolivian Quechua
literatures has, somehow,
helped in promoting the poetry
work of many unknown authors.
It's their works that make
my book a kind of unique,
compressed and traveling
library.