Ellen Maria Gorrissen Lecture

Indigenous Writing in Latin America

Jorge Coronado explores an understudied aspect of Latin American literary history: little-known texts written by Indigenous peoples and their allies during the first half of the twentieth century. In formats such as testimonies, manifestos, pastoral plays, memorized documents, as well as traditional genres, these texts highlight the often dissident contributions of Indigenous worldviews and politics vis à vis the era’s mainstream literary practices. Coronado’s examination of these texts sheds light upon the often-ignored literacy of Indigenous communities, challenging existing ideas of just what constituted literature at the time.