New World Poetics: Translating Indigenous Traditions in Colonial Latin America

Author(s)

Catalina Andrango-Walker

Publisher

The Pennsylvania State University Press | Calíope

Release Date

March 2026

Summary

The articles gathered here display the poetic richness of colonial Latin America, exploring how Indigenous oral and lyric traditions were transformed through the processes of transcription, translation, and evangelization in the early modern period. While situating the works under study in their distinct colonial contexts, contributors simultaneously highlight the native worldviews and performance practices that gave rise to these New World creations. Although certainly not exhaustive, these studies cut across several regions of the Iberian Americas and explore some of the ways in which Amerindian and European traditions converged.

Throughout this volume, the authors advance diverse understandings of poetry and poetics. Some articles focus on Indigenous lyric works that were subject to colonial transcription and translation (Egan, Gillespie, Velloso-Lyons), while others examine how colonial missionaries, typically working in collaboration with Indigenous intellectuals, used native images and myths in order to create devotional songs (Andrango-Walker, Vega).