Category Archives: Texts

Criminology, Southern Theory and Cognitive Justice 

In the contemporary world of high-speed communication technologies and porous national borders, empire building has shifted from colonizing territories to colonizing knowledge. Hence the question of whose voices, experiences and theories are reflected in discourse is more important now than ever before. Yet the global production of knowledge in the social sciences is, like the distribution of wealth, income and power, structurally skewed towards the global North. This collection seeks to initiate the task of closing that gap by opening discursive spaces that bridge current global divides and inequities in the production of knowledge. This chapter provides an overview of criminologies of the global periphery and introduces readers to the diverse contributions on and from the global South that challenge how we think and do criminology and justice.

Source: Criminology, Southern Theory and Cognitive Justice | SpringerLink

End of the South?

In a recent article for Thesis Eleven, Nikos Papastergiadis argues that “the idea of the Global South is now over.” From the optimism of Bandung, he traces a growing complex and critical understanding of “uneven development”.  As an art theorist, his focus is particularly on its identity in global events such as Documenta. His analysis of Okwi Enwezor’s Documenta XI and Decolonial AestheSis is illuminating, but his overall scepticism about the South as a framework is not as productive.
Of course, any overarching concept leads inevitably to homogenisation, which must be resisted critically. This critique can be useful if it leads to a more responsive framework, rather than a disavowal of the political arena.
The problem with Papastergiadis’ writing is that it returns inevitably to the personal. A reader would be forgiven for expecting some alternative framework or concept emerging from this critique. Instead, we have “a couple of stories about the South and narrate the difficult relationship between art and politics from a more personal perspective”. The two anecdotes are incidental exchanges regarding personal trust between participants in global forums.
In the Santiago gathering of the South Project, the South African curator Kwesi Gule spoke about the “lucky turkeys” who attend such events. He referred to the practice of sparing a turkey before the annual bird sacrifice of Thanksgiving, drawing a parallel with the fortunate exceptions of disenfranchisement that are lucky to attend such global gatherings. I don’t think this should stop us meeting, as the face to face live argument is so important for generating the kind of revelations that Gule made. But we should always be critically reflexive of our own position in speaking for others.
While such gatherings favour the bold unmasking of illusions such as the Global South, they don’t always take cognisance of the role these frameworks can play in sustaining hope and solidarity outside the seminar room.
Hardt and Negri show an awareness of this in their support for a pre-postmodern concept of truth:
The postmodernist epistemological challenge to ‘the Enlightenment’ — its attack on master narratives and its critique of truth — also loses its liberatory aura when transposed outside the elite intellectual strata of Europe and North America. Consider, for example, civil war in El Salvador, or the similar institutions that have been established in the post-dictatorial and post-authoritarian regimes of Latin America and South Africa. In the context of state terror and mystification, clinging to the primacy of the concept of truth can be a powerful and necessary form of resistance.
(Michael Hardt & Antonio Negri Empire Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2001, p. 155)
Papastergiadis’ language is threaded with poetic phrases. He describes how “a new kind of `cartography’ is woven into existence: one that is constituted through the choreographic manoeuvres that interweave motion and mooring.” While enchanting to read, and particularly to hear, such a expressions rarely provide a proposition for thinking.
If someone is going to claim the “end of the South”, they should provide an alternative that can respond to the need for solidarity and understanding between peoples and their communities.
Perhaps instead, we can look at an end to the South in a purely academic sense, and seek instead for forms of action that can further the kinds of relationships that the idea of South inspires.

Postscript

Papastergiadis, Nikos. 2017. “The End of the Global South and the Cultures of the South.” Thesis Eleven, June,
Raewyn Connell continues to provide for an engaged version of “southern theory” in her work with unions, gender activism and development of workshops. Bruno Latour’s Reset Modernity project is also an exemplary model of how academic practice can seek broader engagement.
Platforms for a more pragmatic use of the South can be found in South Ways and Joyaviva.
Image is from the Museum of the Constitutional Revolution, Isfahan, Iran

Reading three great southern lands: from the outback to the pampa and the karoo

Seasons, stars, settler colonialism: the nations of the south – Australia, Argentina and South Africa – have much in common. And the 2003 Nobel laureate for literature, JM Coetzee, is helping reframe Australian writing within this southern context.

Source: Reading three great southern lands: from the outback to the pampa and the karoo

The call from South symposium – Slow down!

The Epistemologies of the South symposium was held at Sydney University on 14 April. It received an extraordinary response.  Some of the sessions were standing room only.

The event was convened by Raewyn Connell and Fran Collyerto bring  together of scholars in the social sciences interested in the status of knowledge production in the South.  The morning included brief presentations from Maggie Walter, Vera Mackie, Helen Gardner, Devleena Ghosh and myself. We also heard from those involved in the Arenas of Knowledge project (João Maia, Robert Morrell, Vanessa Watson, Patrick Brownlee and Beck Pearse), a collaboration between Brazil, South Africa and Australia to map social science publishing in the South.

The rest of the day involved group sessions and plenaries where experiences of working in the South were shared. “Speaking bitter thoughts” was encouraged as a way of understanding the experience of working in the university environment, particularly for indigenous peoples (this reflected the People’s Tribunal in Melbourne).

There were many interesting discussions about the knowledge terrain of the South. The universal nature of English in scholarly publishing was seen by many as inevitable, but it was felt that there should be more allowance for the difficulty faced by second-language speakers and for concepts that were not easily translated. The economic challenge for poorer Southern countries of subscribing to scholarly journals was also mentioned. While there are Open Source alternatives for publication, the unpaid labour in maintaining these needs recognition as part of academic work.

More generally, there was broad discussion about the overall framework of knowledge production. The accepted capitalist model of knowledge accumulation through data extraction and publication output was questioned. This seemed to leave little time to reflect on what is learnt. It also does not accommodate indigenous practices, which focus more on the reproduction of knowledge as a form of stewardship. Reflecting the work of Unaisi Nabobo Baba on silence, there was discussion about the importance of listening as a scholarly modality. Overall, there was a feeling that knowledge in a  southern context should involve a quality of slowness that engages with the social relations at play.

Raewyn Connell felt the event had fulfilled its aims:

I was very pleased at the way the national symposium brought together different generations of scholars, and people working in different traditions of knowledge and thought.  Good discussions went on right through the day, and I’m hopeful that many links have been made that will energise this major re-thinking of social knowledge.

Critically, the symposium resolved to establish a mailing list so that the participants can organise future events that will continue these conversations. It will be interesting to see how these conversations develop. The academic machine offers a ready-made system for accumulating knowledge in professional journals. How might an archive of southern knowledge be designed?

Henry Lawson, Mary Gilmore, William Lane and “the little Utopias” – by Esteban Bedoya

In the last two months we have been to  two outstanding performances  dealing with the story of the Australian colonists  who settled in Paraguay at the end of the nineteenth century. In  November 2015  we attended the premiere of an opera composed and directed by Michael Sollis and staged by the Griffyn Ensemble. In February of this year we saw All My Love, a play by  Anne Brooksbank  dramatising the  close friendship between two icons of Australian literature, Mary Gilmore and Henry Lawson. This relationship was never to be consummated  because Gilmore set her mind and heart on pursuing her own personal Utopia by joining the  band of Australians, led by William Lane, who two years earlier, in 1893,  had travelled to Paraguay to establish two socialist  colonies and begin a new life.

Lane and his followers arrived  in a far-away country that had  recently endured  the bloodiest  conflict on South American soil: The War of the Triple Alliance, pitting Paraguay against Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay (1864-70). Paraguay had been considered  the country with the most promising future in the region, boasting  a passenger railway, ship building for international trade, the first iron foundry in the Southern Cone and an extensive telegraph network.  To support this infrastructure, hundreds of European engineers, architects and technicians had been recruited, which contributed to the development of an education  system and a program of urban modernization. Consequently, Paraguay was in the process of becoming the most modern and self-reliant country in South America.

Tragically, Paraguay became the victim of a bloodbath of epic proportions. Why? Historical documentation suggests that the principal reasons were its legitimate claims to independence and its pretensions to develop its own model of social and economic development. Statements by top political and military leaders involved in the war against Paraguay confirm their genocidal intent:

How much time, how many men, how many lives and how many resources are needed to end the war, to turn the Paraguayan population into smoke and dust, to kill even the fetuses in the wombs of the women?

The war in Paraguay concluded for the simple reason that we killed all Paraguayans over the age of ten.

It is a sad memory, but it provides the historical context for the arrival of the hardy Australians who reached Paraguay. William Lane and his comrades found a country in ruins where the surviving women and their children were incapable of raising a smile. But Paraguay needed to be repopulated so the Australians received a warm welcome. Lane, Cameron, Cadogan, Kennedy, Gilmore, Wood and the others were the founders of the colonies of New Australia and Cosme, which in due course bequeathed thousands of descendants —Australian and Paraguayan— as well as a rich cultural legacy that belongs to both of our nations.

The expedition that set sail on The Royal Tar on 17 July 1893 from Sydney Harbour provides a solid basis for writing the history of Paraguay-Australian bilateral relations. In the words of the historian Marisa González Oleaga, “They have left us a heritage of dignity and pride. Nobody will ever again recreate the experience of New Australia, but people will always envisage the possibility of new worlds beyond the horizon.” Many years have elapsed since that heroic enterprise, but Utopian ideals continue to inspire men and women throughout the world striving to reach the Light on the Hill.

First shipload of Australian immigrants left Sydney on the Royal Tar in 1893

 

Today, humanity is facing grave humanitarian crises. Limited resources frustrate endeavours to ameliorate the fate of people in embattled regions. We may draw inspiration from the pilgrims who sailed in The Royal Tar, risking their lives in a quest of a “little Utopia” in a distant land. It is significant that two works about this extraordinary adventure should be staged in Australia at the same time. The message conveyed by Gilmore, Lane and Lawson continues to resonate in the works of talented contemporary Australian artists and writers who remember the idealism and courage of their forebears. And by some mysterious telepathy, the saga of these intrepid settlers has also inspired an Argentinian movie director, Cristian Pauls, to tell their story. In collaboration with Paraguayan partners, the movie is currently in production on the other side of the Pacific.

This efflorescence of interest in the shared history of Australia and Paraguay is not mere coincidence. It is an urgent reminder that we should both work together to keep alive our historical memory. Our artists, poets and writers are telling us that it is our joint responsibility.

Esteban Bedoya is Chargé d’Affaires of Paraguay, Canberra.

An-other way of being in the contemporary world

Reflections on Nobel Laureate Rigoberta Menchú Tum

Dr Riccardo Armillei
The Alfred Deakin Research Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University

Dr Eugenia Demuro
School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Deakin University

‘Que todo lo que hagamos tenga una dosis de humanidad’
(Rigoberta Menchú Tum)

Rigoberta Menchú Tum

Rigoberta Menchú Tum

 

On Wednesday 29th of July, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr Rigoberta Menchú Tum delivered the UNESCO Chair for Cultural Diversity and Social Justice Annual Oration at Deakin University. Since its inception, the UNESCO Chair Program has promoted the establishment of hundreds of UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN Networks, serving the dual function of ‘think tanks’ and ‘bridge builders’ between academia, policy-makers, local communities, research and civil society (UNESCO 2013). The Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation was endorsed with this prestigious recognition in 2013, when Prof. Fethi Mansouri was awarded the UNESCO Chair in comparative research on ‘Cultural Diversity and Social Justice’. Due to her illustrious career in the struggle for Indigenous rights and ethno-cultural reconciliation, Rigoberta Menchú Tum was chosen, and kindly accepted the invitation, to be this year’s orator.

Rigoberta Menchú Tum was born in 1959 into a Quiche Mayan peasant family in Guatemala. A year later Guatemala was plunged into a civil war that lasted 36 years. It has been estimated that the civil war caused the death of 200,000 people, the displacement of more than half a million people, and the destruction of countless Mayan villages. The worst of the war came between 1979 and 1984, ‘during which over 90% of the total human rights violations were committed’ (Chamarbagwala & Morán 2011, p. 42). In 1982, following the military’s systematic oppression of any form of insurrection, and after the death of several members of her own family, Menchú Tum fled to neighboring Mexico. At that time, she was virtually unknown in her own country. It was after the death of her father in 1981—when he was burned alive by the Guatemalan army in the Spanish Embassy along with another thirty-eight members of the Committee for Peasant Unity (CUC)—, that Menchú Tum’s public visibility started to grow (Arias 2001). In 1983, she published I, Rigoberta Menchú: An Indian Woman in Guatemala, a gripping document that charts her path to political awareness and which attracted international attention and courted controversy. Since then, she has become an icon of indigenous resistance, a leading advocate of indigenous rights and a voice in recognition and reconciliation processes, not only in Guatemala but globally. Her work has earned her several international awards, most notably, the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 (The Nobel Foundation 1992).

At Deakin University, Menchú Tum spoke on the guiding principles of her philosophy and of her ancestral knowledge – a model for another way of thinking. Her message was to imbue all our actions with a dose of our humanity, and for those of us working within academia, to put ourselves in the service of the world and to work towards an ‘integral academic vision’. This approach entails three different dimensions: human beings are composed of a spiritual, a material and a social dimension, which need to be in equilibrium with each other. The emphasis on materialism, and the lack of consideration for the spiritual and social dimensions, has had disastrous consequences for the times we live in. This is grounded on the premise that ‘what happens to others happens to us’. In this way, the need to bring together the personal and the collective is an important means to enact community practises of mutual respect and cooperation. The practise of respecting others, of acknowledging and seeing others, must be central to our behaviour and code of ethics.

For Menchú Tum, the social is built on the practise of a true egalitarianism that emphasises our social selves within a collective, with the aspiration of bettering ourselves in the service of others. This, Menchú Tum cites as the creation of a ‘culture of peace’. According to Menchú Tum the biggest secret of human beings is humility, as it is through humility that we can experience gratefulness towards other living creatures and towards the earth. Without dismissing the material dimension–for we are material beings—we should be content to take only that which ‘fits in our hands’ and leave the rest to others, as when we accumulate beyond our needs we are taking what is meant for others. Menchú Tum’s words, derived from the accumulated wisdom of her Mayan ancestors, spoke of a ‘science for life’ that provides guiding principles to live and to address three pressing questions: Who am I? Where do I come from? And, Where am I going? According to Menchú Tum, answering these involves seeing, listening and feeling. Our eyes, she tells us, are not enough.

For social scientists this requires developing new standards and categories of ‘knowledge’, and to re-consider how knowledge is used and re-produced. For instance, what social scientists regard as Education (with a capital E) within a Western context, and by extension what often defines Indigenous peoples the world over as ‘uneducated’, excludes non-Western epistemological and ontological traditions, and fails to recognise and appreciate other ways of knowing. If Indigenous peoples measured knowledge only within this Western frame, they would loose other ancestral ways of knowing the world. In an academic context measured by outputs, citation indexes and our ability to generate commercial returns, the idea of academia in the service of humanity is a revolutionary stance. And with academic peer-review plagued by gatekeepers and conservatism, opening up research to new ways of knowing the world and accommodating ‘subaltern’ epistemologies is a radical call to action. Any response will require us to shift the value system of the academic endeavour away from competition and the status quo, and towards community, humanity and new possibilities.

Menchú Tum has been often characterised as a ‘subaltern voice’ and has herself become an ‘object’ of study under the intensive scrutiny of Western intellectual elites. In particular, as Arturo Arias (2002) has argued, the controversy regarding Menchú Tum’s testimonio should be interpreted as ‘a symbolic lesion (lesson?) about the unwillingness of hegemonic intellectuals to listen to subaltern ones’ (p. 481) – part of a broader tendency to distort and transform other voices with the aim of misrepresenting ‘subaltern’ narratives. At one point of her oration, recalling the torture of her family members, tears welted in her eyes, yet her message was an optimistic one: to promote a different ‘code of thinking’; to reconfigure ourselves in the contemporary world. Those of us working within humanities and social sciences, and more broadly within academia, cannot be impassive in the face of these requests. We are left pondering on the need to open up new horizons of inquiry and on how to accommodate different perspectives within our academic endeavours. Undoubtedly, this will also require listening and engaging with seriousness and respect to the wealth of Indigenous scholarship and other knowledges. Today, the still-apparent lack of an intellectual investment in this direction, as Rigoberta Menchú Tum stressed, is frustrating any real possibility to enact other ways of being in the world.

 

Bibliography

Arias, A 2001, ‘Rigoberta Menchú’s history within the Guatemalan context’, in A Arias (ed.), The Rigoberta Menchú Controversy, University Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, USA, pp. 3-28.

Arias, A 2002, ‘After the Rigoberta Menchú Controversy: Lessons Learned About the Nature of Subalternity and the Specifics of the Indigenous Subject’, MLN, vol. 117, no. 2, pp. 481-505.

Chamarbagwala, R & Morán, HE 2011, ‘The human capital consequences of civil war: Evidence from Guatemala’, Journal of Development Economics, vol. 94, no. 1, pp. 41–61.

The Nobel Foundation 1992, ‘Rigoberta Menchú Tum – Biographical’, Nobelprize.org, retrieved 3 August 2015, <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1992/tum-bio.html>.

UNESCO 2013, University Twinning and Networking, UNESCO, retrieved 11 August 2015, <http://www.unesco.org/en/university-twinning-and-networking/university-twinning-and-networking/>.

about location or can you tell me where my country lies

map creators saw this land as in the south
as far away as possible from themselves
so they called it terra australis & then
australia       the land to the south

as there is no outside in our drifting through the cosmos
then no objective reference can be made &
all objectivity becomes nothing else but blindness
then blindness commands the location of terra australis in the south

in fact the naming took place within “i”’s abstractions
this is why “i” calls all southerners boat people
& this is why australia is not in the south
& this is why “i” never left his location in the north

for abo-origin people this land is the dreaming

[Image is a window to the south of Chile, a place in Puyehue (9th region) which means place of puyes (a fish in Mapudungun) due to its clear rivers; taken by Patricio Gonzalez]

The author:

Sergio Holas-Véliz was born in the port town of Valparaíso, Chile, and migrated to Australia in 1988. He holds a Teacher of Spanish Degree, a Master Degree in Hispanic Literatures, both by the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, and a PhD in Philosophy by the University of New South Wales. His poetry as well as translations have been published in Babab (Spain), Letralia (Venezuela), Arena (Melbourne), Social Alternatives (Queensland), Australian Poetry Journal , The Capilano Review (Canada), Rabbit Poetry Journal (Melbourne) and El espíritu del valle (Chile). He has published three poetry books that deal with the precarious power of language and decolonization: Distancia cero (Zero Distance); 2004), Ciudad dividida (Divided City; 2006) and Paisajes en movimiento (Moving Landscapes; 2013).He has  two completed poetry manuscripts in English,  Adelaide. Ramblin’ in My Mind. Meditations Upon Emergent Occasions(2013) and Wrinckled Fire & Other Commodities (2014)waiting publication. He is co-translator of Poetry of the Earth: Mapuche Trilingual Anthology, a Mapudungun, Spanish and English Anthology of seven Mapuche poets from the region of La Frontera in the south of Chile, published by IT Press in December 2014.  He has taught Spanish Language and Amerindian Literatures/Oralitures at various universities in Chile , New Zealand and Australia. He is currently Head of the Department of Spanish Studies at Adelaide University”.

Racial Conceptions in the Global South by Warwick Anderson

What happens to twentieth-century race science when we relocate it to the Global South? North Atlantic debates have dominated the conceptual history of race. Yet there is suggestive evidence of a “southern” or antipodean racial distinctiveness. We can find across the Southern Hemisphere greater interest in racial plasticity, environmental adaptation, mixing or miscegenation, and blurring of racial boundaries; endorsement of biological absorption of indigenous populations; and consent to the formation of new or blended races. Once we recognize the Global South as a site of knowledge making, and not just data extraction, the picture of race science in the twentieth century changes. Once situated, or displaced, the conventional North Atlantic history of race science in the twentieth century comes to seem exceptional—and no longer normative.

JSTOR: Isis, Vol. 105, No. 4 (December 2014), pp. 782-792.

Alfonsina Barrionuevo interview

Alfonsina Barrionuevo

Alfonsina Barrionuevo

Alfonsina Barrionuevo is a Peruvian writer whose work seeks to recuperate the indigenous knowledge lost to colonisation. Her scholarly research of Machu Picchu is a great contribution to our understanding of Inca culture. She keeps a rich set of texts online at perumundodeleyendas.blogspot.com.
A continuación, explica las ideas que hay detrás de su trabajo:

En su trabajo, usted parece tener un compromiso con la recuperación de la cultura prehispánica. ¿Por qué es esto importante para usted personalmente?

templos-sagrados-de-machupiqchu-alfonsina-barrionuevo2012-489-MPE3529400470_122012-F

templos-sagrados-de-machupiqchu-alfonsina-barrionuevo2012-489-MPE3529400470_122012-F

Porque si el Perú hubiera sido un conjunto de grupos aldeanos, sin desarrollo cultural, no habría para qué buscar las raíces.  Aquí se habla del orgullo de ser peruanos, pero orgullo de qué.  La gente se queda en el aire. No es así. El país que tenemos fue extraordinario. Tiene ocho regiones y 84 pisos ecológicos. Tenemos 69 culturas que tuvieron un extraordinario desarrollo tecnológico, científico y cultural. Lo demuestran las construcciones de ciudades, sistemas de irrigación, cultivo y cosecha de lluvias, textilería, orfebrería, cerámica, escritura, tradiciones, música, danza, etc.  Hace diez mil años  comienzan con la domesticación de 450 especies alimenticias más o menos que se dan al mundo a partir del siglo XVI.  Su religión fue ecológica y carismática, no tuvimos dioses, conocieron tanto la naturaleza y las fuerzas cósmica<s y terrígenas que las consideraron familia. Hay que recuperar la memoria de lo que tuvimos y de lo que queda en las comunidades nativas para tener una base firme, para crecer ordenadamente, para sentir un compromiso para seguir adelante . Los políticos corruptos no tienen idea de la obligación que contraen con sus representados, la indolencia de muchos es fruto de su ignorancia, el no encontrar sentido a la vida ni respeto por la vida de los demás es consecuencia de todo esto en parte. En mi país sigue existiendo gente maravillosa honrada, trabajadora, inteligente y eso me reconcilia con las cosas negativas que pasan cada día.

Como intelectual peruana muy activa, puedes decir lo que las revistas o asociaciones locales eran importantes para usted en el sostenimiento de su trabajo?

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Yo soy periodista. Siempre he trabajado en diarios y revistas. De qué otra forma hubiera podido sostenerme y sostener a mi familia. Yo no tenía herencias, no venía de una familia acomodada. Mi padre era periodista y mi madre una mujer de talento pero económicamente de clase media. Hoy no tengo trabajo en periódicos ni revistas porque prefieren gente que trabaja a destajo. Alguna vez vendía fotografías para mis artículos y me dijeron que preferían el regalo que les hacían los mochileros a quienes les bastaba una mención de su nombre o una propina. También son de su preferencia jóvenes periodistas que no tienen grandes obligaciones.

¿Hubo influencias intelectuales de fuera de Perú que eran importantes para usted?

He leído mucho a autores españoles, franceses, ingleses, desde los cuatro años de edad. Siempre estaba enferma y la única forma de mantenerme en la cama para mi padre fue enseñarme a leer y comprarme después libros, las revistas las leía en minutos.

¿Cree que es posible recuperar las formas de pensar que pertenecieron a las culturas pre-coloniales? ¿Qué importancia pueden tener ellos ahora?

No creo. En tantos siglos pasados la vida ha cambiado, los sueños, las pesadillas, las tecnologías, las necesidades.  Si pudiera hacer retroceder el tiempo sólo iría a ver cómo era su vida, los centros poblados, el paisaje. Debe haber sido fascinante. Hay valores que persisten en las comunidades andinas. Ahora que tenemos tanta inseguridad, asaltos, robos, etc. es casi un milagro sentir que en las comunidades se puede dejar equipos, provisiones, dinero y saber que no tocarán nada.  Muchas veces he compartido en mis viajes su fiambre ofrecido con generosidad. He dejado mis pertenencias en sus estancias o chozas que no tienen puertas ni llaves  con tranquilidad. Son gentes excelentes, con un sentido solidario qu4e no se encuentra en las ciudades. Los españoles inventaron una especie de máximas que muchos operuanos creen que son de Pachakuti Inka Yupanki. Ama Suwa, Ama Qella, Ama Llulla. Es decir “no robes” (lo que en realidad era no le robes al patrón  porque todo es suyo); “no seas ocioso” (trabaja para el patrón sin descansar porque es tu obligación y los hacían trabajar desde las 5 a.m. hasta las 5 a.m.) ;  “no mientas” (cuéntale todo al patrón porque es tu dueño y debes hacerlo sin ocultar nada)  Eso no funciona para ellos.

En los Andes sin que los obliguen trabajan cuanto pueden y si se rebelan es contra la explotación (recuerdo haber visto mujeres que iban por los chakiñan, caminos de pie hilando, sus manos nunca estaban ociosas); no necesitan robar porque la producción de sus tierras les basta, además tienen algún  ganado, alpakas, vacas, ovejas, kuyes, etc); no tienen para qué mentir. Esto es impracticable en las ciudades. No sólo en el Perú sino en medio mundo.  Es cierto que son recelosos pero se debe a que siempre los han engañado y se aprovechan de ellos, pero cuando advierten que estamos en el mismo camino, que creemos en lo que ellos creen, se abren y hablar de historias muy hermosas, costumbres muy antiguos interesantes, tradiciones que asombran,  artes (textilería principalmente, teñido), ciencias (conocen todos los huesos del cuerpo humano y son unos quiroprácticos excelentes, igualmente las virtudes de hierbas medicinales), técnicas agrícolas (sus antepasados domesticaron 427 o más especies alimentarias y medicinales que hoy usan los países del mundo, saben sembrar y cosechar las lluvias, auscultar en el cielo y a través de indicadores animales y vegetales si el año será bueno para el campo); tienen  música para nacer, morir, curar, comer, meditar, comunicarse, etc., ya alegre, ya triste, ya bélica), danzas ( por lo menos unas cuatrocientas de las mil doscientas que tenemos son ctreaciones de ellos,  los pulis registran en sus danzas el crecimiento de la kinua o kihura, etc,)

No hubiera escrito revelaciones en mi libro si ellos no me hubieran contado los relatos que se hicieron de padres a hijos por cientos de años. La gente de ciudad incluyéndo los antropólogos afirman que no saben nada sin haber hablado con ellos.

Kukuli Velade image

Kukuli Velade image

Kukuli Velarde ‘Mater Admirabilis’ (2010)

A portrait of Alfonsina Barrionuevo by her daughter Kukuli Velarde

 

Bibliography

28 libros y  ensayos acerca de instituciones prehispánicas y contemporáneas, novela y cuentos para niños,  entrevistas con especialistas e investigaciones en la Biblioteca Nacional de Lima  y Archivos Históricos de las capitales de provincia.

*2013. “TEMPLOS SAGRADOS DE MACHUPIQCHU”. Acerca de la religión carismática y ecológica de los Inkas. Ubicación de 17 wakas, sitios o templos sagrados en el santuario. Jesús.Bellido Ediciones.

*2005 ·HABLANDO CON LOS APUS”. Ed. Ediciones Bellido.

Un encuentro fascinante con los Apus y las Pachamamas de Qosqo a través del altomisayoq Mario Cama. Ellos me contaron experiencias increíbles de cosa sucedidas. No son seres humanos sino fuentes de energía terrígena que sienten y aconsejan.

*2003-2006. Nuevos Cuentos Peruanos: “AVENTURAS DEL NIÑO DIOS EN LA TIERRA DE LOS INKAS” y “PERSONAJES MÁGICOS DEL ANDE Y ANDES MAGICOS”. Gráfica Bellido. Lima.

*2000. “PODER EN LOS ANDES: LA FUERZA DE LOS CERROS”. Religión andina. Gráfica Bellido. Lima

*1998. “EL PONCHITO DEL PIRGUSH”. Mitos y leyendas para Educación Inicial. Ed. BRASA. Cuento infantil a base de un pajarito, el pirgush, un hombre ocioso que fue convertido en ave,

*1997. “EL PICAFLOR DE MACHUPIQCHU”. Mitos y leyendas para Educación Inicial.  Ed. BRASA.  Un picaflor fue encargado por los Apus de Urubamba para entregar a un sacerdote inka dos plantas maravillosas, una que ayuda  a multiplicar la fuerza humana y otra que convierte la piedra en barro.

*1990. “SAQESQA: LA NOVIA DEL SANTO”. Novela corta. Ed. SAGSA. La costumbre del saqey “abandono”  simbólico de una criatura que nace de manera prematura en un altar religioso católico para que el santo o virgen se lo lleve como angelito o lo ayude a vivir.

*1989. “HUCHUYSITO, EL PEQUEÑITO”.  Mitos y leyendas para niños.  Ed. SAGSA.  Huchuysito un pajarito quie recorre el Perú cuenta historias extraordinarias a umn niño que vive solo en la puna hasta que muere.

*1989. “LOS EXTRATERRESTRES ¿CONSTRUYERON SAQSAYWAMAN?”.  Un recorrido por el Valle Sagrado de los Inkas. Ed. SAGSA.

*1988. “AYACUCHO: LA COMARCA DEL PUTKA AMARU”.  Mitos, leyendas, historia, tradiciones, etc. Ed. SAGSA.

*1986. “QORIMANKA, CULINARIA EN OLLA DE ORO”.  Mitos, leyendas, e historia sobre los alimentos. Recetas. Ed. SAGSA.

*1986.  KINDERGESCHICHTEN AUS PERU. “PINTADITA, LA VIKUÑA -CAPITAN PELICANO”. Alemania. Ehrentraut  Plasse.

*1981. “CARTAS DE LIMA”.  Lima virreinal. Ed. UNIVERSO. Leyendas de iglesias y casonas.

*1981. “LIMA: EL VALLE DEL DIOS QUE HABLABA”-  Historia prehispánica de Lima. Ed. ARICA. Recorrido por puieblos que conservan rituales y costumbres prehispánicas.

*1980. “CUSCO MAGICO”. 2da. Edición. Ed. Universo. Lima.

*1979. “EL NIÑO DIOS EN EL PERU”. . Ensayo. Banco de Crédito.

*1978. “ARTISTAS POPULARES DEL PERU”. Estudio sobre artistas populares de diferentes lugares del país,  Ed. SAGSA.

*1978. “HABLA MICAELA”.  Ensayo sobre Micaela Bastidas, Jefe de Estado Mayor de Tupaq Amaru.  Ed. Talleres  Gráficos IBERIA.  “Autobiografía subjetiva” sobre lo que fue pensando Micaela Bastidas a medida que trascurría la revolución de Tupaq Amaru hasta su muerte. Es una de las obras más bellas MÁS BELLAS QUE HE ESCRITO que he escrito con mi sentir de mujer andina, pensando en qechwa y escribiendo en español.

*1978. “KUKULI”.. Una niña  cuenta cómo empezó a pintar a los 3 años de edad . Editorial DESA.

*1976. “LA CHICA DE LA CRUZ”. Novela para niños en castellano. Una niña de ciudad atemorizafda por las espeluznantes historias de tipo religioso logra superar su situación psicológica con la ayuda de una niña andina que le muestra su mundo maravilloso donde los elementos de la naturaleza son familia.  Ed. SAGSA. Lima. Traducido al alemán y publicado por Ed. J.G. Blaschke Verlag.Printed  in Austria.

*1974. “MACHUPIQCHU Y SUS LEYENDAS”.  Edición en inglés y castellano. Ed. STUDIUM.

*1974. “CAPITAN PELICANO”. Libro para niños en defensa del pelícano. Ed. ARICA.

*1973. “SIRVINAKUY, EL MATRIMONIO DE PRUEBA”. Ensayo sobre el matrimonio andino. Ed. SAGSA.

*1972. “PINTADITA, LA VIKUÑA”. Libro para niños en defensa de la vikuña, traducido al alemán. Ed. ARICA. Campaña nacional con  50,000 ejemplares.

*1971. “EL VARAYOQ: EQUILIBRADOR ENTRE DOS MUNDOS”.  Ensayo sobre el alcalde andino.Ed. SAGSA.

*1971. “EL MUKI Y OTROS PERSONAJES FABULOSOS”. Ensayo sobre 18 personajes fabulosos en inglés y castellano. Ed. SAGSA.

*1971. “LOS DIOSES DE LA LLUVIA”. Puno.  Ed. ARICA.

*1970. “CUSCO MAGICO”. En castellano y en inglés. Ed. UNIVERSO. Traducido también al rumano.