International Journal of Bilingual
Education and Bilingualism
Editor: Colin Baker, University of Wales, Bangor
Review Editor: Aneta Pavlenko, Temple University, Philadelpia
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Volume: 2 Number: 3 Page: 181–197
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Neither the State Nor the Grass Roots: Language Maintenance and the Discourse of the Academia Mayor de la Lengua Quechua
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Tim Marr
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While many language maintenance projects can be thought of as being essentially 'top-down' (directed by the state) or 'bottom-up' (generated at grass-roots level), not all can be so easily characterised.
This paper considers the case of the Academia Mayor de la Lengua Quechua, an institution based in Cusco, Peru, which is ostensibly dedicated to the support and maintenance of the Quechua language. Drawing
on writing by and about the Academia, but principally on a personal interview with one of its senior officials, the paper suggests that the institution shows signs of an ambivalent and potentially conflictive
attitude both to the Peruvian state and to ordinary speakers of the language. The discourse of some of the Academia's members is examined, and some of the political and cultural implications of this discourse
are drawn out. It is suggested, finally, that despite its generally good intentions, the Academia as presently constituted could produce potentially negative effects on Quechua language maintenance in Peru.
© Multilingual Matters 1998
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