La representación de la literatura indigenista e indígena en dos obras Colombianas: José Tombé de Diego Castrillón Arboleda y En Defensa de mi Raza de Manuel Quintín Lame

Abstract

This dissertation is a study of the Indian's problem that is depicted in the Andean narrative of Indigenist, Indianist and Indigenous literature and how the literary movement of Indiginism created a wave of reivindicative narrative through Latin-America, especially in countries like: Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. Through a theory approach, my study analyzes the most important indigenist narrative in Latin-America and how this theory could be applied to two Colombian writers that can be considered as indigenist and indigenous. To do so, I examine the work of a variety of indigenists and indigenous writes and theorists -- Diego Castrillón Arboleda Jose Tombé (1942) y El Indio Quintin Lame (1973), Manuel Quintin Lame En Defensa de mi Raza (1987). Furthermore, this dissertation has taken into account the important contribution made by theorists in the field of indigenists studies such as: Antonio Cornejo Polar, José Carlos Mariátegui, Tomás Escajadillo, among others. My research pays close attention to two important writings that will aid in understanding Indiginism as a literary movement in Colombia, Jose Tombe and En Defensa de mi Raza. By the beginning of the 20th century indigenist writers, through their novels, were advocating for the Indigenous communities throughout the Andean region. In Colombia, this advocation was not taking place in a similar way to the rest on the Andean countries with a strong indigenous influence. I have concluded these two writings are strongly connected to this literary movement. That conclusion is largely based upon an analysis of the characteristics in these works which led me to categorize Jose Tombé as an indigenist novel and En Defensa de mi Raza as an indigenous written work. All the narratives that are part of this research project will provide valuable information about Indiginism as a literary movement in Colombia. Most importantly, it will add these two works to the existence of what is considered the indigenist and indigenous canon.