Father Sun, Mother Moon: Stories of Pluricultural Grassroots Development.

• Author: Mujica, Barbara

Father Sun, Mother Moon: Stories of Pluricultural Grassroots Development, by Charles David Kleymeyer. [Trilingual: Spanish, English, Quechua] Quito: AbyaYala, 2000.

Father Sun, Mother Moon is a collection of stories, songs, and riddles familiar to Ecuadoran, Bolivian, and Peruvian schoolchildren. The core of the book is the stories, but these are decidedly not the lighthearted fantasies we associate with children's literature. Rather, they are hard-hitting accounts of exploitation and brutality in Andean society. They are based on real people and events, but make no claim to strict historical accuracy. Instead, they are expressions of the cultural realities and collective wisdom of the Andean peoples. Kleymeyer states in his introduction that the book represents his conscious attempt to combine the tools of fiction with the observational and analytical methods of the social sciences in order to focus the reader's attention on significant sociocultural themes.

By reproducing his material in three languages--Spanish, English, and Quechua--the author hopes to make a broad spectrum of readers conscious of the social and linguistic complexity of contemporary Andean society. Even the trilingual format fails to convey the pluricultural quality of the Andean region, Kleymeyer explains, because there are several dialects of Quechua, each with its own pronunciation, lexicon, and spelling. It is impossible to impose one uniform system of Quichua/Quechua without neglecting certain groups. Kleymeyer's solution was to reproduce each item as the particular informant related it, regardless of the linguistic discrepancies that might arise between one item and another. The presence of blacks, mulattos and black-Indian mixes complicates the cultural horizon still further. Kleymeyer represents Afro-Andean culture in a number of pieces, for example, the story "Vida o dignidad: Suenos de `El Toro'" and the poem "La pregunta del Negro."

Among the most moving stories is "You're Anselmo Chumbi?," the tale of an Indian farmer and literacy teacher who persuades his community to buy additional farming land from the mestizo landholder. Because he has taken the time to learn the legal codes, Anselmo is aware of the community's rights and a tough but honest negotiator. Eventually, the mestizos come to see him as a troublemaker who must be eliminated.

The...