“We Quechua people live far from the state. For us, the state is another nation. They have never come to our communities to ask how things work. We have even built the schools ourselves.”

Jun 14

María Sumire (mah-ree-yah soo-mee-ray)

language defender, legislator

IMAGE SOURCE: “Congresista Maria Sumire de Conde.” congresistamariasumire.blogspot.com | TEXT SOURCE: “Diversity in parliament: Listening to the voices of minorities and indigenous peoples.” United Nations Development Programme. 2010.

QUOTE CONTEXT: ”The Constitution says we are all equal, but that’s not really true. Indigenous people, such as the Quechua, the Aymara, and the Amazonian Nation, are excluded from everything…In our country, we live in two different worlds. One is “deep Peru,” and the other is official Peru.”

QUOTE QUESTION: How close to the state do your People live?

IMAGE CONTEXT: From Congresista Sumire’s personal blog page which begins: "Kay llaqtayuq runakunaqa qhepanchasqapas, kausashaykuraqmi" The indigenous peoples are alive despite exclusion.”

IMAGE QUESTION: What do you do when it is essential that people listen?

MEDIA LITERACY CONTEXT: The quote is from a United Nations publication. The image is from a legislator’s blog post.

MEDIA LITERACY QUESTION: What official media channels help to get the word out about your People’s critical concerns?

“We Quechua people live far from the state. For us, the state is another nation. They have never come to our communities to ask how things work. We have even built the schools ourselves.”

María Sumire (mah-ree-yah soo-mee-ray)

“By holding on to the main axis of where we come from we'll understand this modern world and globalization.”

“The spirituality of our Inca ancestors lives in our way of life. In the way that we remember where we come from in order to have a stronger presence in this world.”