Andean Literature, Music, and Culture

Catalog description

This course focuses on literature, music and culture of certain ethnic groups inhabiting the Andean region of South America including, but not limited to, the Aymara and Quechua peoples, their cosmovision and their languages. Through literary texts belonging to different genres, and through films, special attention is placed on expressions of syncretism in seasonal festivals in which pre-Hispanic, European, and African music traditions and religions were shaped due to forced migration, wars and colonization. A strong emphasis on the ecological regions of the nations that share the Andean mountain range contextualizes current indigenous movements of resistance against the degradation of its environment and the impact on its culture.