Indigenous migration and written Spanish in Ayllu Sikuya

Abstract

The Sikuyas (indigenous group) from northern Potosí (Bolivia) over the years have appropriated the Spanish script. From an ethnographic approach, it was possible to verify that in rural areas, written discourse not only circulates in academic spaces such as schools, but is also present in their cultural and social activities. They register their norms and their political activities in a Minutes Book. These agreements that are reached after a long discussion in Quechua are recorded on paper. The Sikuyas not only resort to writing in their ancestral space, writing is also present in the city. The Sikuyas have migrated to the Llallagua city , there they resort to written language to regulate their access to urban spaces. Urban land tenure is registered in their Minutes Book. In short, writing circulates both in rural areas and in the city. It performs individual and collective actions in both spaces.