"Sara mamacha, papa mamacha": representations of food in Quechua poetry
Keywords:
Quechua poetry, Quechua literature, Andean poetry, Andean literature, Andean food, food security, potato, corn, social criticism, Dida Aguirre, Ariruma Kowii, Eduardo Ninamango Mallqui, Kilku Warak’a, Lily Flores Palomino, Ugo Facundo Carrillo Cavero, Ch’aska Eugenia Anka Ninawaman, César Guardia MayorgaAbstract
Food plays an important role in the spiritual and daily life of the Quechua people, so that it should not come as a surprise that a rich variety of alimentary themes are elaborated in Quechua poetry. Through an analysis of several of the literary techniques frequently utilized in Quechua poetry, a consideration of the thematic, semantic and morphologic structure of various Quechua language poems, as well as a description of the sociohistorical and cultural significances of food references, this article explores the representation of food in the Quechua verses of eight Andean poets written between the years 1957-2009. This article is divided into three sections which focus on the poetic representations of maize, the potato and finally, hunger and food shortages.
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