Life in the Andes

An overview of contemporary Andean culture, as practiced by the people in Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador. Topics include but are not restricted to, the cultural geography of the Andes, agrarian techniques, worldview and spirituality, medicinal practices, and contemporary indigenous movements. The goal is to recognize Andean culture as the result of the resilience of the pre-Hispanic Andean heritage, and the continuous adaptation Andean people have practiced, first, to control their environment and, second, to survive and overcome colonial and postcolonial forms of subordination.

Carlos Molina-Vital

Carlos Molina-Vital is a Peruvian linguist and language teacher and CLACS's Quechua instructor.
He has experience teaching Spanish, General Linguistics, Syntax, and Semantics and has worked with Quechua languages since. His fieldwork has taken him to Ancash (Callejon de Huaylas and Conchucos), Cuzco (Maras, Urubamba, Calca), and Ayacucho (Huamanga, Huanta) in the Peruvian Andes. His Interests are:

• Grammar description under a functional-cognitive framework
• Applied linguistics (pedagogical grammar and standardization)
• Language and cognition (in particular, the interaction between culture, categorization, and grammar)

Carlos is happy to answer any questions you might have!  You can email him at: crm5@illinois.edu