Jose's Background
Jose is a Quechua native from the Indigenous rural community of Chungui, in the province of La Mar, which is part of the Mayunmarka Quechua-speaking Andean region, in the department of Ayacucho, Peru. He works as a teacher of Primary Bilingual Intercultural Education at the "José Salvador Cavero Ovalle" School of Higher Education Pedagogy in Huanta. He also worked for many years as a teacher and director in primary schools in Chungui. As an Indigenous communicator, he is an official translator of the Quechua language, currently working in the office of CHIRAPAQ-Center for Indigenous Cultures of Peru, as head of the Indigenous Children & Youth Program. His professional interests include activities that promote the conservation, enhancement and revitalization of my mother tongue, Quechua, and also Matsiguenga, which is the other native language at the edge of the jungle in his region. For this eco-linguistic project Jose will be contributing to the written record of Quechua according to current linguistic standards. "This revitalization project is important to the world as a lasting indigenous linguistic registry, in order to promote the revitalization of current Andean cultures and languages, as well as their study, research and active use into the future. I am proud that my community is the primary source for the development of this transcendental project. And I hope to learn a lot too, especially at the intersection of Western scientific knowledge with the perspective and knowledge of indigenous peoples."Learn More