Lessons in Disobedience by Forasteros, Migrants and Nomads in Los ríos profundos by José María Arguedas and Huaco Retrato by Gabriela Wiener

In this podcast episode, Natalia Hernandez Somarriba, a second-year PhD student in Modern Languages, compares two texts by Peruvian authors that address the broad context of unequal social relations within post-colonial Peru, as well as between Peru and Europe as a former colonial power. The first is the neo-indigenista novel Los ríos profundos (1958) by José María Arguedas; the second is the autofictional contemporary novel Huaco retrato (2021) by Gabriela Wiener. Published fifty years apart, reading these works in dialogue highlights how issues of mestizo identities, social conflict, and systemic oppression of different communities have shifted both in Peru and within former colonial powers.

Drawing on decolonial, feminist, and posthumanist theoretical approaches, Natalia first examines how movement interacts with and shapes the narrator-protagonists’ identities, allowing them to foster empathy for themselves and others. Secondly, she demonstrates how Ernesto and Gabriela engage in decolonial practices that resist and disobey established structures of power. It is through these acts of disobedience that the characters ultimately develop relational and multifaceted understandings of identity. They critique and subvert not only the status quo imposed on marginalised groups through the legacy of coloniality and nation-states, but also the role and position of white-mestizo subjects within their respective societies.