Exhibit: The Poetic Creation Process of the Oralitor Fredy Chikangana: To Feel, Think and Write in Quechua

The poetic creation process of the Oralitor Fredy Chikangana: To Feel, Think and Write in Quechua. - Mabel Orjuela Bowser

November 7, 2022 - May 31, 2023

UC Merced Library, First Floor – Elevator Lobby

The exhibit features original copies of Quechua poems written by Fredy Chikangana. The indigenous poet and "oralitor" Fredy Chikangana writes in Quechua Runa Shimi, the ancestral language of his community, because his poetry, although cosmopolitan and transnational, is rooted in his Yanakuna Mitmak culture. Having in mind the memory of his mother tongue is at the heart of his creative process. 

Presentations:

Fredy Chikangana - 'Conectando Puentes' | 'Connecting Bridges' 

Indigenous Gaurd Anthem - Himno de la Guardia Indígena - Guardia Fuerza

Mabel Orjuela-Bowser

To Feel, Think, and Write in Kechua is created by Mabel Orjuela-Bowser, a Ph.D. candidate in the Interdisciplinary Humanities program at UC Merced. Her research, under the guidance of Professor Ignacio López-Calvo, explores the connection between indigenous socio-cultural expressions and the construction of an indigenous identity empowered by its cosmovision (worldview) and epistemology. Orjuela-Bowser earned a master's degree in Spanish and Literature from California State University, Fresno. She is a native Spanish speaker and is currently learning Kechua Runa Shimi as part of her research. Her areas of interest include Latin American literature and culture, indigenous literatures and cultures, Afro-Colombian literature and culture and literary theory.

Disciplines: Spanish Literature and Culture

Email: mbowser@ucmerced.edu