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theses

This work studies films about indigenous populations made by non-indigenous and indigenous filmmakers in different moments of national crises in Perú and Bolivia, between 1930 and the first decade of the 2000s. I argue that what becomes visible and invisible in regards of indigenous populations is informed by ways of seeing and interpreting the (re)construction of nation according to concepts of race, gender, class, knowledge, time and space. Therefore, portrays of the indigenous in these films are the result of the impact of colonial/modern ideologies in shaping exclusive projects of nation formation at political, social and epistemological levels. The dissertation examines the conditions by which indigenous peoples have been seen, heard and recognized in their humanity as well as the ones by which filmmakers and places of enunciations as enacted in films hold the authority to represent them. Specifically, in regards of cinematographic productions made by non-indigenous, such as the works of José Velasco Maidana, Cine Club Kukuli, Jorge Ruiz, Jorge Sanjinés, Federico García Hurtado, Claudia Llosa, Icíar Bollaín, I assert that modern/colonial attitudes manage the voice, temporality and identity marks (defined according racial, gendered and class-based categories as installed by modernity) that result in portraying indigenous subjects as outsiders of history and unable to represent themselves politically or culturally. On the other hand, films that result of self-representation or are made in collaboration with indigenous organizations, such as the works of Fernando Valdivia, CEFREC or Chirapaq, intervene in modern concepts (such the ones mentioned above) that have defined externally these populations. I conclude that visibilization of indigenous subjects in films made by non-indigenous filmmakers does not always equate to a recognition of them as citizens or active members of society. While visibilization opposes to lack of figuration, it does not guarantee a full recognition of indigenous subjects whose complexities continue to be reduced in terms of their failures to adapt to modernity. This is to say, these films do not result of an absolute erasure of the indigenous, neither do they make an unconditional acceptance of their difference. Unlike these movies, participatory indigenous cinema or projects of self-representation looks at politicizing indigenous presence by enacting ways of communal organizations and debates around own cultural and political agendas of self-determination.

ETD_7807

Ph.D.

Includes bibliographical references

by Claudia A. Arteaga Olórtegui

doi:10.7282/T39S1TGD

ETD doctoral

The author owns the copyright to this work.