Andean Lives: Gregorio Condori Mamani and Asunta Quispe Huamán

Description

Gregorio Condori Mamani and Asunta Quispe Huamán were runakuna, a Quechua word that means "people" and refers to the millions of indigenous inhabitants neglected, reviled, and silenced by the dominant society in Peru and other Andean countries. For Gregorio and Asunta, however, that silence was broken when Peruvian anthropologists Ricardo Valderrama Fernández and Carmen Escalante Gutiérrez recorded their life stories. The resulting Spanish-Quechua narrative, published in the mid-1970s and since translated into many languages, has become a classic introduction to the lives and struggles of the "people" of the Andes. Andean Lives is the first English translation of this important book. Working directly from the Quechua, Paul H. Gelles and Gabriela Martínez Escobar have produced an English version that will be easily accessible to general readers and students, while retaining the poetic intensity of the original Quechua. It brings to vivid life the words of Gregorio and Asunta, giving readers fascinating and sometimes troubling glimpses of life among Cuzco's urban poor, with reflections on rural village life, factory work, haciendas, indigenous religion, and marriage and family relationships. Gregorio Condori Mamani and Asunta Quispe Huamán CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INTRODUCTION PRELIMINARY NOTE TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION BEGINNINGS AEROPLANES AND OTHER BEASTS MILITARY TRICKS EARTH MOTHER, CROPKEEPER, AND THE THREE BROTHERS THE BARRACKS “THE ARMY ISN’T CHRISTIAN” INKAS AND SPANIARDS STORIES FROM JAIL ROSA, JOSEFA, AND MIRACLE SHRINES LIFE WITH ASUNTA THE FACTORY WE STRAPPERS RUNNING AWAY FROM THE HACIENDA EUSEBIO “I STOPPED BEARING THAT CROSS” LIFE WITH GREGORIO POSTSCRIPT NOTES GLOSSARY BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX