On Display, Levels 1 & 2 Wall Cases, J. Willard Marriott Library
Student work for SPAN4900-3, “Indigenous Writing and Culture,” Spring Semester 2015, Prof. Isabel Dulfano, Dept. of Languages and Literature, in collaboration with Luise Poulton, Rare Books and Emily Tipps, Book Arts Program.

Professor Dulfano’s statement: This class examined Latin American indigenous writing and culture to make manifest the wide spectrum of representation and depiction of the indigenous in canonical and non-canonical letters. Our visits to the library coincided with a chronological approach taken toward analysis of the images and documents shaping the contemporary imaginary about, and by the Indigenous in the region. The historical chronicles authored by the Spanish conquerors, ecclesiastical documents, treatises about the Black Legend and violent conquest, facsimiles of accordion style codices elaborated by native informants and priests on amatl paper, first-edition testimonials, dramas, poetry, and contemporary art books brought the subject to life as students engaged with the content and distinct formats utilized since the conquest. We held history and various forms of knowledge in our hands, turned the pages and interacted directly with the manuscripts containing these ideas. As we learned about literary production in class, the sessions held in the library reinforced and made real the ideas that have shaped our understanding of the conquest of the indigenous peoples and their colonized worldview.

Photographs of display by Scott Beadles, Rare Books assistant