Cosmolectics and Indigenous Literatures

Gloria Chacón is Associate Professor in the Department of Literature at the University of California, San Diego. Among other works, she is the author of the book Indigenous Cosmolectics: Kab'awil and the Making of Maya and Zapotec Literatures (2018) and co-editor of the volume Indigenous Interfaces: Spaces, Technologies, and Social Networks in Mexico and Central America (2019). Dr. Chacón's talk will explore the rise of Maya and Zapotec literatures in Mesoamerica during the late 20th and early 21st centuries in light of kab'awil, a paradigmatic cosmolectics that manifests in the works of indigenous authors, setting them apart from national writers.