Lecturer in Latin American Literature
1. Non-Western Cultures in Latin American Literature
This long-term project took of in 1995. The intention is to study the ways in which non-western peoples and cultures are presented and represented in Latin American Literature: by non-western we are referring to native Indian, Black and also the Mestizo population of Latin America. The issue of representation is crucial since there are as yet relatively few native and black writers, and it is therefore necessary to look with a critical eye at the literature that claims to represent Latin American reality. Initially the project will focus on the Andean Countries, Central America and Cuba. I am at the moment working on the Salvadorean writer Manlio Argueta.
2. Native Religion, Politics and Identity in the Andes.
This on-going project arises from earlier research carried out in Highland Bolivia during the early 90s. The major themes are Aymara socio-political organization and the role that native religious ideas and ritual practices play in the socio-political context. A central issue concerns native Aymara ideas about the Sacred.
Books:
In press: Jesús de Machaqa: La marka rebelde. Vol 4: Las voces de los wak'a: fuentes principales del poder político aymara (La Paz: CIPCA/ ILAS-Liverpool), 368 pp.
Research Papers:
1996: Sociopolitical Organization, Authority, Gender and Kinship in the Bolivian Andes (Liverpool: University of Liverpool, ILAS, Research Paper 19), 42 pp.
Contributions to Books:
1998: "Las cabezas que hablan: la autoridad, el género y el parentesco en una comunidad andina". Contribution to: D. Arnold et al. (ed.), Gente de carne y de hueso: tramas de parentesco en los Andes, St. Andrews: Institute of Amerindian Studies, Research Paper 28, ISBN: 1/873617/25/9 (La Paz: Ed. Punto Cero: CIDES/UMSA/ILCA/IAS), pp. 177-211.
In press: "La compra de las tierras de Jesús de Machaqa del cacique Gabriel Fernández Guarachi: un documento colonial". Contribution to: R. Choque et al., Jesús de Machaqa: La marka rebelde. Vol 1: Cinco siglos de historia (La Paz: CIPCA), 30 pp.
In press: "Knowledge of Power, Power of Knowledge". Contribution to R. Howard-Malverde et al. (ed.), Watunakuy: Knowledge and Learning in Andean Cultures (Liverpool: University of Liverpool Press), 35 pp.
Articles in Journals:
1996: "Las deidades llamadas wak'a en el discurso cultural aymara: resistencia y modernización". Bulletin de la Sociétè Suisse des Américanistes, Genève, Nos. 59-60 (1995-1996), 91-95.
1998: "The Powers of Hard Rock: Meaning, Transformation and Continuity in Cultural Symbols in the Andes. Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies, Vol. 7, No. 2 (December, 1998).
In press: "The Dynamics of Aymara Duality: Change and Continuity in Sociopolitical Structures in the Bolivian Andes", submitted to the Journal of Latin American Studies.
In Preparation:
"Expressions of the Andean Landscape in José María Arguedas' Los ríos profundos" (paper read at the Kay Pacha Conference: Landscape in the Andes, Lampeter, Wales, in April 1998).
"Reading without Words: Landscape and Symbolic Objects as Repositories of Knowledge and meaning", to be submitted with paper from the Kay Pacha Conference: Landscape in the Andes, Lampeter, Wales, Aprin 1998)
Office: 422, Depart. of Hispanic Studies, Modern Languages Building.
Postal Address: Department of Hispanic Studies Modern Languages Building, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3BX
Phone: +44 (0) 151 794 2779 / 2775
Fax: +44 (0) 151 794 2785
Or click here on his name to send an e-mail: valdi@liv.ac.uk
This page was last updated on 24 September 1998