Young Cusqueñans from the city center, all non-Quechua speakers.
A stark contrast exists between my students who live in the Cusco city center and those who live in the rural Anta region, located 45 minutes by car outside of Cusco. In Anta, all of the girls are fluent in Quechua, the language group spoken primarily by indigenous people of the South American Andes. While classes there are taught strictly in Castellano, Quechua becomes the lingua franca when conversing with friends. However, when I ask my girls who live within the city whether they speak Quechua, I receive a resounding “no” from the group. Most say, though, that their parents or grandparents do speak the language.
To me, it seemed strange that while Quechua is still widely spoken in the rural outskirts of Cusco, its use is rapidly deteriorating within the younger generation of city dwellers. That such a wide gap is evident within a small geographic radius is peculiar.
I started asking around, and community members confirmed my observations that Quechua spoken in cities was on the decline. Some also provided insight as to the causes of this trend, and the results from a quick Google search agreed with their suspicions. The UCLA Language Project Materials site states that “In Cuzco…a large percentage of those less than 35 years old understand [Quechua] but are reluctant to speak it…Quechua native speakers in the big cities consider speaking the language as an admission of undesirably low social background.”
This helps explain why city parents are failing to pass the language onto their children: Quechua speakers are associated with campesinos, or country people, and those who move to the city do not want to associate with this kind of peasant life. Over the past decade Cusco has experienced rapid economic growth fueled by tourism, which may explain why these trends are appearing only with the current generation. Now, the reasons for this language decline are certainly more complex than these, but it is clear is that the stigmatization of the Quechua language is a contributing factor.
These facts beg the following questions: What, if anything, should be done to prevent this loss of language within the city? Because Quechua is still widely spoken in the countryside, is it even a worthwhile cause to prevent its city decline? Is this simply a natural and inevitable consequence of a country’s development, or should programs be started to reduce the stigma of Quechua speakers in an effort to preserve its use? And, if so, who is responsible for implementing and funding these programs? These are conversations that need to be started here in Cusco, yet no one seems to be talking.
Kimberly is currently serving as Program Manager for GirlSportWorks, a US-based NGO that seeks to enhance the lives of Peruvian girls through athletics.
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To prevent the loss of the Quechua language by city dwellers the population must be educated as to the importance of retaining their language as part of their inherent culture. And that once their language is lost, so goes their culture. It is an issue similar to the second generation of immigrants in America, who did the same thing. Now people are learning that pride in one’s culture is fashionable, not low-class. It’s all in the education. So talk it up. Actually, you’ve already started to do this with your blog. Now take this conversation back to the schools where you work. That’s a good place to start. Good luck.