Faculty Book to be Presented in Peruvian Amazon

On December 10, 2012 at 7 p.m.
Dr. Pilar Valenzuela,
Associate Professor in the Department of Languages will present he

r new book titled, “Voces Shiwilu: 400 Años de Resistencia Lingüística en Jeberos / Shiwilu Voices: 400 Years of Linguistic Resistance in Jeberos” at the Auditory of Instituto de Investigacionesd de la Amazonía Peruana, in the city of Iquitos, Peruvian Amazon.

This book offers a historically-oriented introduction to the Shiwilu people and their language, since their first encounters with the Spaniards in the first half of the seventeenth century, to these days. Shwilu is an indigenous language of Peruvian Amazonia. It is severely endangered since it is only spoken by a few elders in and around the town of Jeberos. For the Shiwilu their language is the only remaining, tangible cultural element that legitimizes their claim to being an indigenous people and ensures their recognition as such by others. The book also includes the first text collection published in this language and is published by Fondo Editorial Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (2012).