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OAS Hosts Dialogue and Exhibition on Indigenous Culture of Peru

As part of the Fifth Meeting of the Inter-American Committee on Culture (CIC), the Art Museum of the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Permanent Mission of Peru organized this evening a dialogue entitled "Peru: From Indigenismo to Interculturalism," which aimed at raise awareness of the culture of Peru among the representatives of the Member States of the institution that are attending the regional meeting this week.

In the event, José Luis Renique, historian and senior lecturer at the City University of New York, spoke about Peruvian indigenismo from a historical perspective, which he divided into three areas. First, the moral and aesthetic concerns "based on the idea that the Republic of Peru can not be viable without the Andean tradition that characterizes it." Second, he outlined the aspiration that the country creates a specific policy towards indigenous people and how this aspiration is modeled within the country. The third idea he discussed was that of indigenismo connected with the policy of national integration, a concept in which anthropology helped to "harmonize the elements" and opened a path to allow for the search of "the authenticity of the indigenous people." Furthermore, he referred to the progress achieved by Peruvian indigenismo compared with other countries that are in the same processes of search for identity and recognition of local culture, such as Mexico and Bolivia.

For his part, Ramiro Matos, Peruvian archaeologist and Director for Latin America at the National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, highlighted that the Peruvian indigenous people have never ceased to be a source of inspiration for artists and writers, and therefore they have always been present, mainly from the cultural perspective. He also recalled that history has shown that "the indigenous people of today are indeed a continuation of the past" and that their cosmology, idiosyncrasy, culture and traditions persist over time.

Matos urged recognition of the multiculturalism that characterizes Peru and to find ways to explore, understand and harness it while at the same time supporting the social, economic and political inclusion of these cultures, promoting their participation in society and "rescuing the wisdom and talent that they retain." In that respect, he concluded that the indigenous communities of the 21st century are not disconnected; rather, they are incorporated into current development and progress.

At the closing of the event, the Permanent Representative of Peru to the OAS, Ambassador Walter Alban, thanked the audience for its participation and invited them to enjoy the special exhibition of the works of Peruvian artist Fernando de Szyszlo in the same Museum of the Americas.

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-112/13