A Philosophy for Indigenous Literature: Fausto Reinaga and the Making of a Literary Indianista Frame

Abstract

This article analyzes three key works by the Quechua-Aymara philosopher and writer Fausto Reinaga (Bolivia, 1906–1994) to identify the formation of a philosophical approach to Indigenous literature in Latin America. By examining La “intelligentsia” del cholaje boliviano (1967), El indio y los escritores de América (1968), and La revolución india (1969)—fundamental texts in the development of indianista philosophy—this article argues that Reinaga anticipates a set of political values that define contemporary Indigenous scholarship and lay the groundwork for a philosophy of Indigenous literature framed within an anticolonial political purpose. This construction is illuminated by situating Reinaga’s indianista ideas in dialogue with the emancipatory claims inherent in the Latin American philosophical and anticolonial tradition and by critically engaging with the indigenista movement as well as the criollo-mestizo intellectual tradition in the Americas.