© 2012 Amy Rebecca Firestone QUECHUA AND SPANISH IN THE URBAN ANDES: A STUDY ON LANGUAGE DYNAMICS AND IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION AMONG PERUVIAN YOUTH BY AMY REBECCA FIRESTONE DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Spanish in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2012 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Anna María Escobar, Chair Associate Professor Melissa Bowles Associate Professor Nils Jacobsen Associate Professor Ellen Moodie Assistant Professor Jodi Byrd ABSTRACT This dissertation analyzes first-generation youth’s linguistic and social practices in the construction of a new urban Andean identity in Peru. Since the 1940s, socio-economic events have led to massive migration of Quechua speakers from rural to urban areas. Migration has been understood as negatively affecting the vitality of Quechua in the cities, where Spanish is the dominant language. Using an ethnographic approach that is centered on youth’s voices, the results of this study reveal, however, that Quechua and other cultural traditions are maintained and revitalized by first-generation youth, especially when parents are not present. Ethnographic research was carried out among first-generation youth in three families in Ayacucho and Arequipa, two historically distinct Peruvian Andean cities that have been the center for migration in Peru. In both cities, the results show that the family's economic practices, that can take place in rural, urban, and international spaces, are the driving force in determining the degree of contact that youth have with Quechua and other rural cultural traditions. Quechua and Spanish use are also found to be on a rural/urban continuum, in which different degrees of mixture or combinado are found depending on the space/location of the interaction, interlocutors present, and symbolic value of the language. My research draws attention to the economic and social dynamics of life in the urban Andes, represented in the Chakra Model, which helps understand the vitality of Quechua in Peru in the 21st century. This research moves away from labeling Andeans, and instead focuses on understanding how first-generation youth construct their urban Andean identity, thus providing a “bottom-up” perspective to life in the urban Andes. ii Dedicated to my mother, Beverly Honig Firestone (1948-2006) and my grandmother, Stella Honig (1910-2000), who made many sacrifices in life, but never left behind their language and culture. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation represents a long academic and personal journey that has led me to many different familiar and foreign places. During my travels, my eyes remained open, my ears listened for the sounds around me, and my hand was out ready to shake other hands, all while I encountered many new and challenging situations. The words in this dissertation are an imprint of the meaningful personal and professional relationships that I have been fortunate to have during this time. Now that I have finally landed, I would like to acknowledge the many people who served as more than just “passengers” on my journey. My first trip to the Andes was 10 years ago in 2002. I traveled to La Paz, Bolivia to work as an undergraduate summer intern at the U.S. Embassy. This experience changed my outlook on Latin America and taught me about the human bonds that are in our power to create and embrace. As a twenty-year-old student intern at the U.S. Embassy, I considered myself to be among the privileged few to meet and mingle with several Bolivian ex-presidents and dozens of politicians. Of course, along with politics, comes the press. In Bolivia, I was interviewed on live national television, and one time, I found my photograph in the lifestyle section of the national newspaper. However, during this time, another newspaper I opened caught my attention even more. I remember picking up the Aymara section of the national newspaper and trying to decipher the enormously long words with my new Aymara friends, the domestic workers who worked for the American diplomat whose house I stayed at in La Paz. María and Rosemary Yujra, thank you for befriending me ten years ago in La Paz. You have inspired me to carry out this project. When I returned from Bolivia, I decided to devote my studies to my newfound passion for indigenous languages and culture of the Andes. I am very fortunate to have found so much iv academic support from my undergraduate professors at the College of William and Mary, and later, at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where I completed my master’s degree in Latin American and Caribbean Studies, and now, my doctoral degree in Spanish sociolinguistics. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my academic advisor and dissertation chair, Professor Anna María Escobar. I am very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with you over the past seven years and learn from your expertise in sociolinguistics of the Andes. Your exceptional mentorship has helped me stay focused and motivated to accomplish my goals, especially during many challenging moments. During the past eight years, I have also had the privilege of working with Professor Nils Jacobsen, who originally encouraged me to travel to Huamanga in 2005. I have greatly benefitted from your guidance and expertise in the Andean region, and I sincerely appreciate you for always encouraging me to reach for my highest goals. In my first year as a master’s student, I fondly remember when Professor Ellen Moodie, whom I did not know at the time, approached me at a department reception just to ask me how things were going; thank you for always keeping in touch with students like myself, and also, for all of your support for my work. I would also like to thank Professors Jodi Byrd and Melissa Bowles for contributing their different areas of expertise to enhancing my dissertation. At the University of Illinois, I have had the unique opportunity to study both Quechua and Aymara with two Andean language experts. I feel honored to have been a student of Quechua professor, Clodoaldo Soto, to whom I am indebted to for all of his help throughout the years, and especially for his assistance with the difficult audio recordings. Anchata riqsikuykuy! I would also like to thank my Aymara professor, Miguel Huanca, for his dynamic language classes in which I have greatly improved my Aymara skills. Miguel, you will appreciate knowing that this dissertation was written walja willampiwa- wiñay wiñay ukhamaniwa. v I am also indebted to the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) for all of their support for my preliminary research in Peru with the Tinker Foundation field grants and for several Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships for Quechua and Aymara. At CLACS, I would like to thank the following individuals, not only their hard work and dedication to student such as myself, but also, for being positive and friendly staff at the Center: Associate Director, Angelina Cotler, Alejandra Seufferheld, and Gloria Ribble. I am very privileged and honored to receive generous funding from the Inter-American Foundation (IAF) Grassroots Development Fellowship (2009-2010) to support my dissertation research in Peru. I would like to acknowledge my IAF academic committee advisers, Dr. Kevin Healy, Dr. Jan Knippers-Black, and former Ambassador Thomas J. Dodd, Jr. for their invaluable feedback on the early stages of my doctoral research during our meeting at the IAF mid-year conference in Mexico City. I also give many thanks to Ms. Christiana Kasner of the Institute of International Education for all of her assistance while I was in Peru. This dissertation research would not have been possible without the support from all the young people and students in Ayacucho and Arequipa, Peru. I am very grateful for you, my lifelong friends who generously opened your home to me and gave me a space in your lives. I especially thank Professors Walter Pariona and Georgina Icochea for their warm hospitality and academic support in Huamanga. I also thank my colleague and friend in Huamanga, Roberto Ayala Huaytalla, for all of the academic references and meetings. Some people are just fellow passengers on your journey, but others stay along for the entire trip, come rain or shine. Kyan Mulligan, you have been my resident at La Casa, my Poquoson Plan guru, my editor-in-chief, and more important, my very close friend. I respect you for all of your talents that you will take to many places, and thank you for always being close by, vi no matter how far away I was. Another one of my former residents at La Casa, Graham Nessler, is now a doctor, a doctor of Latin American history. I’m very fortunate for our close friendship that has continued while we have been living in different states and continents. As you know, neither one of us was quite cut out for economics, but we both find high value in our friendship that continues as we write the next chapters. Kristina Pittman smiles when she reminds me that we first met in 2007 at a TA orientation in a large auditorium on the University of Illinois campus. I am forever grateful for you Kristina, for embracing my colors, and for being there for me more than anyone could ever ask for, in both the most exciting and difficult of times. I would also like to acknowledge my fellow sociolinguist and friend, Dr. Claudia Holguín, who with great strength and determination, a path for those of us to follow in Spanish sociolinguistics at Illinois. I’m not sure what I would have done in Illinois without Fabio Manda and Andy Myo.