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well, i thought more about pizzaro's context then pizzaro himself read full post >>

Back home in Vancouver, it is very possible to live day-to-day life without thinking of religion or interacting with religious institutions or iconography in any substantial way. Despite the religious motivations that existed for settler colonialism in Canada, I think that the more secular nature of contemporary Canadian society has caused me not to think as deeply about the early interactions between Christianity and indigenous systems of belief. This isn’t to say I don’t think about Christianity’s enduring role as it relates to indigeneity at home at all, but here...read more read full post >>

Commentary on Luis Valcárcel's "Tempest in the Andes" read full post >>

Lessons from Arguedas' Deep Rivers read full post >>

I started reading Deep Rivers instead of what we’re supposed to be reading for tomorrow because it’s making me nervous that we have to read two entire books by Friday. So far I am… confused but enjoying myself! In the first story, The Old Man, Arguedas tells the story of a boy who visits Cuzco for […] read full post >>

In one of my English courses last semester, we discussed the concept of imperialist nostalgia. Imperialist nostalgia is a concept originally established by Renato Rosaldo. According to Rosaldo, imperialist nostalgia occurs when “people mourn the passing of what they themselves have transformed” or have had a role in transforming. In being nostalgic about it, they […] read full post >>

In Stern’s description of how the indigenous peoples of the Andes adapted economically to Spanish colonialism, I found it very interesting how a small portion of that indigenous population managed to accumulate property, gain wealth, and explore business endeavors in an economic environment that was stacked entirely against them. At first, I was taken aback […] read full post >>

I absolutely loved the first sentence for the readings in the Lima Reader this week. “Lima must be—in my opinion—one of the ugliest capital cities in the world.” What an opening. Personally I didn’t find Lima an ugly city and I think this description is a bit harsh. I wonder what was it that made […] read full post >>

Creation myth is a recurring element of indigenous cultures around the world. While we of course can’t possibly have a record of all the versions created by different populations in history, the stories we manage to preserve into today have striking similarities in their motivations, contents, and style. A through line in creation myths is […] read full post >>

My first read through of Vargas Llosa’s left me feeling defensive of Peruvians and dislike of the author. The excerpt starts out by explicitly stating the risk of harm that may result from stereotypes and generalizations applied to a cultural group. He then immediately launches into his introduction and description of the elusive term huachaferia, […] read full post >>