The course offers a general introduction to performance and cultural politics in contemporary Peru, centered around an intensive workshop with Peru’s most important theatre collective, Grupo Cultural Yuyachkani in their cultural center in Lima. We explore Andean performance cultures, paying particular attention to the role of the arts in the contemporary human rights struggle in Peru and the recent work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. We rely on guest lectures by leading Peruvian scholars on visual culture, performance, Afroperuvian music, festival performance, and postcolonial theory and practice in Peru.  Our students are drawn from Hemispheric Institute member institutions, and come from the U.S., Brazil, Mexico, and beyond. Knowledge of Spanish is desirable, but not required. No previous performance experience necessary.

Grupo Cultural Yuyachkani has been working since 1971 at the forefront of theatrical experimentation, political performance, and collective creation. “Yuyachkani” is a Quechua word that means "I am thinking, I am remembering"; under this name, the theatre group has devoted itself to the collective exploration of embodied social memory, particularly in relation to questions of ethnicity, violence, and memory in Peru. Their work has been among the most important in Latin America’s so called “New Popular Theatre,” with a strong commitment to grass-roots community issues, mobilization, and advocacy. Yuyachkani won Peru’s National Human Rights Award in 2000. Known for its creative embrace of both indigenous performance forms as well as cosmopolitan theatrical forms, Yuyachkani offers insight into Peruvian and Latin American theatre, and to broader issues of postcolonial social aesthetics. We will explore these issues through a range of related activities: an intensive workshop with Grupo Cultural Yuyachkani, guest lectures with leading scholars and artists, site visits to museums and other sites, and a series of readings and film screenings, all outlined below.