Our 2023 Keynote Address was given by Elvia Andia Grágeda of The Ohio State University.
Keynote Presentation Title:
“What does the resistance look like today? The ironic need to demand inclusion and recognition of Indigenous peoples in modern times and spaces.”
Abstract:
A lo largo de su historia, los pueblos indígenas en Latinoamérica solicitaron y continúan pidiendo su inclusión y reconocimiento en muchos ámbitos sociales, políticos y educativos. Pero, muchas veces esta inclusión está condicionada a las reglas o parámetros del grupo que permite su inclusión. Dejando de lado sus propias prácticas y costumbres porque no se reconocen como válidas para estos nuevos espacios o contextos.
Es en este sentido que, aprovechando el contexto y espacio creado por la UNESCO declarando el Decenio Internacional de las Lenguas Indígenas (IDIL 2022-2032), queremos traer a la mesa de conversación realidades que muestran el alcance del discurso de la inclusión y el reconocimiento para los indígenas, su lengua y su cultura. Estas realidades que abarcan espacios educativos, políticos, de investigación y más.
Speaker Bio:
Elvia Andia Grágeda (she/ella/pay) is an Indigenous Quechua woman from Bolivia and a Clinical Associate Professor of Teaching in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at The Ohio State University (OSU). She is an award-winning author and linguist specializing in the study and instruction of Bolivian Quechua and Spanish, as well as Quechua-Spanish translation.
Andia Grágeda holds a Master’s degree in Linguistic Policy of Indigenous Languages from Universidad Cosmos in Cochabamba, Bolivia and has investigated the role of Quechua in higher education language policy, particularly in the Quechua Public Indigenous University in Bolivia. She has also worked as the Departmental Coordinator in the Bolivian Ministry of Education in Intra- and Intercultural Multilingual Education.
Andia Grágeda’s contributions to the study of Quechua are unmatched. Since coming to OSU in 2016, she has developed an impressive Quechua program that delivers first-rate language pedagogy not only to an ever-growing cohort of OSU students but also to students at institutions around the nation through the virtual modality of BTAA Course Share. In 2019, Andia Grágeda became the first oral proficiency interview tester for Quechua (and indeed for any American Indigenous language) certified by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). She offers these skills regularly to OSU’s Center for Latin American Studies as the Quechua proficiency assessor for the Foreign Language and Area Studies program.
Andia Grágeda has published widely in the domains of Indigenous language pedagogy, Quechua translation, and fiction. Some recent noteworthy publications include: the three-volume Juch’uy Chaki Quechua teaching method (2012, 2014, 2015); the Quechua translation if You be You! Explaining Gender, Love, & Family (2019); the online guide Quechua, Kichwa, & Runa Simi (2019); the novel Piraqkunawan parlaspa (Talking with the Walls), winner of the Premio Guamán Poma de Ayala en Lengua Originaria (2019); short story P’uytumanta, winner of the Literacy Contest in Quechua Language (2020); and short story El perfume de las manos, winner of third place in the Bolivian National Contest of Short Stories (2021).