Dr. Serafín M. Coronel-Molina & Dr. Teresa L. McCarty

Indigenous Language Revitalization in the Americas

Drs. Coronel-Molina and Dr.McCarty will discuss their collaborative and individual work in the field of Indigenous language revitalization. Dr. McCarty will discuss her work with a current U.S.-wide study of Indigenous-language immersion (ILI) schooling funded by the Spencer Foundation. This mixed method, multi-university study asks, “What can ILI teach us to improve education opportunities and outcomes for Indigenous and other minoritized students?” Dr. McCarty will share emerging insights from the study’s qualitative component, highlighting language revitalization and the key role of relationality and relational accountability in promoting learners’ holistic academic, linguistic, cultural, and personal well-being. Dr. Coronel-Molina will discuss his findings on Latin American Indigenous language practices using digital media and technology to promote and revitalize Indigenous languages such as Quechua, Aymara, Guarani, Mayan languages, Nahuatl, Ashaninka, and Mapudungun (Mapuche).

About the speakers

Serafín M. Coronel-Molina

Serafín M. Coronel-Molina is an Indigenous scholar and native speaker of Huanca Quechua, an endangered variety spoken in the central highlands of Peru. Dr. Coronel-Molina held a named and endowed title of Indiana University Bicentennial Professor from 2019 to 2021. He is an Associate Professor of Literacy, Culture, and Language Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Indiana University. His books include Language Ideology, Policy and Planning in Peru and Indigenous Language Revitalization in the Americas (with T. L. McCarty). He was also a Guest-editor and Co-editor for the following Special Issues: Language Contact and Universal Grammar in the Andes (with M. Rodríguez-Mondoñedo), Translingual Literacies (with B. L. Samuelson), Indigenous Language Regimes in the Americas, and The Politics of Language, New Frameworks for Language Revitalization in the 21st Century: Case Studies from the Americas and Europe (with Llorenç Comajoan-Colomé).

Teresa L. McCarty

Teresa L. McCarty is an educational anthropologist and applied linguist who lives and works in Tovaangar, the homelands of the Gabrielino-Tongva. At UCLA she is Distinguished Professor and G.F. Kneller Chair in Education and Anthropology, and Faculty in American Indian Studies. A member of the National Academy of Education, her books include “To Remain an Indian”—Lessons in Democracy from a Century of Native American Education (with K. T. Lomawaima), Ethnography and Language Policy, Indigenous Language Revitalization in the Americas (with S. M. Coronel-Molina), Indigenous Youth and Multilingualism (with L. T. Wyman and S. E. Nicholas), A World of Indigenous Languages (with S. E. Nicholas and G. Wigglesworth), and Critical Youth Research in Education—Methodologies of Praxis and Care (with A.I. Ali). She is a current Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University.

Liberato Kani

Liberato Kani is a Peruvian rapper and composer of Quechua origin. His art fuses the global genre of rap/hip hop with the Quechua language and with music coming from the Andean, Amazonian and Afro-Peruvian contexts. Liberato Kani has toured internationally in Berlin, Cuba, Chile, Spain and the United States, and in Peru at venues such as the Great National Theater of Peru, the International Festival of Social Innovation (FIIS), Jammin Peru and Lima International Book Fair (FIL). He has also worked as a teacher giving workshops in Quechua for children and young people in the city of Lima, thanks to his studies in education at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Enrique Guzman y Valle University (La cantuta). In 2016, he released the album Rimay Pueblo which contains some of his biggest hits such as Kaykunapi and Harawi. Among his main presentations are the "International Year of Indigenous Languages 2019" organized by UNESCO in Guatemala and the AfueraFest of the Gran Teatro de Lima in 2020. Currently, Liberato Kani performs concerts in different cultural spaces and schools in Peru, and gives talks as part of the solid social commitment that motivates him to fight for a Quechua-speaking and multilingual Peru. In addition, he has just released his new album called Pawaspay.

Luis Loayza Ramos

Luis Loayza Ramos, artistically known as Wariwillka, is a composer and singer from Quinua, Ayacucho, Peru. He is considered one of the most influential artists of trap and reggaeton in Quechua, thus revitalizing his native language. In 2020 he released his first single 'Fiestapaq' with his producer Kayfex (Warner chappell music), inspired by the customs and traditions of his Ayacucho region. In 2021 they collaborated on a second single, Tusuriy, for the commemoration of the Bicentennial of Peru. The TUSURIY challenge has over 5 million views on TikTok. Currently, he is participating in a world-class contest (Peru's Got Talent) broadcasted on open signal by Latina Tv.