#nor is ingrid rojas contreras like a perfect writer or anything

[mortola]

i do hate how american latino literature always needs to include a musing on indigenous beliefs of latin america like thinking of colombian american writing idk im no authority but if your characters are not indigenous then it feels disingenous, at best some kind of halfhearted acknowledgement of colonization (which could be MUCH better done in other ways imo). like ingrid rojas contreras is good at this bc she writes mixed characters who experience racism and have connections to indigenous beliefs, practices, etc. while her narratives acknowledge the erasing effects of colonization on the individual identity level and the exploitative systems at the macro level. ms patricia engel i am unsatisfied by these continued musings about what the muisca beliefs about the origins of the world were like i can only assume it's a market/publisher pressure to exoticize for an american audience? esp bc the indigenous groups chosen are either genocided groups that are literally gone or are portrayed as gone even if they're not. like rojas contreras to my recollection doesnt name specific ethnic groups (a possible sin but also she's from and writes about santander which like does not have a huge indigenous presence today compared to other parts of colombia so it's more plausible that you wouldn't name a specific cleansed group) vs. engel who returns again and again to muisca mythology when like the only function of these references are to muse on the divisions between countries (in which case you would think it would be relevant to mention that muisca people are still around and that muisca people specifically are national emblems bc of lake guatavita and that colonialism has specifically exploited their memory and iconography to create national colombian identity while their actual descendants are forgotten). idk it's not the biggest of sins like i have no reason to think any of it is wrong and it does serve its small points in the narrative and i think it would be worse to omit any mention of indigeneity in your narrative about colombia and also these parsing outs dont necessarily exist the same way in colombia. i just wonder what the like market pressures are that make these writers do this.