Student in Peru makes history by writing thesis in the Incas' language
Student in Peru makes history by writing thesis in the Incas language
Quechua is still spoken by 8 million people across the Andes, but Roxana Quispe Collantes hopes she can give it added value
Dan Collyns Lima
@yachay_dc
Sun 27 Oct 2019 02.32 EDT
A doctoral student in Peru has made history by becoming the first person to write and defend a thesis in Quechua the language of the Incas, which is still spoken by millions of people in the Andes.
Roxana Quispe Collantes received top marks from Limas San Marcos university, the oldest in the Americas, for her study on Peruvian and Latin American literature, which focused on poetry written in Quechua.
Scholars say it is the first time in the universitys 468-year history that a student has written and defended a thesis (answering questions from examiners) entirely in the native language even though it is the most widely spoken indigenous tongue in South America, used by about 8 million people, half of them in Peru.
Beginning her presentation with a traditional thanksgiving ceremony using coca leaves and the corn-made alcoholic drink chicha, she presented her study titled Yawar Para or blood rain.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/27/peru-student-roxana-quispe-collantes-thesis-inca-language-quechua
Roxana Quispe Collantes