6 “Warmikuna quñusqa kasun” or “Women, we are united”; Indigenous Feminist Rap Music as a Form of Resistance -Jasmine Ali

“Warmikuna quñusqa kasun” or “Women, we are united”;

Indigenous Feminist Rap Music as a Form of Resistance

By Jasmine Ali

Introduction:

Consider how music has played a role in social movements. Think of how African American spirituals and folk music played a role during the Civil Rights movement, and how Riot Grrrl music contributed to the feminist movement of the 1990’s. Music is an inspirational tool that can be used to resist the oppressive dominant institutions in place.

Rap music has historically been a form of protest. Originating from the Bronx in the 1970’s, rap has been used for social protest against issues such as racial violence and police brutality, predominantly by Black American men. This is prevalent in the works of the hip-hop rappers like Kendrick Lamar and Tupac Shakur, who have been considered widely influential for including political messages in their music. However, there has been a recent rise in groups of different, intersectional identities utilizing rap music as a platform for their activism.

In this paper, I will examine the work of Peruvian musician Renata Flores as an example of an Indigenous feminist rapper who serves as an activist for her community. Flores resists against the effects of the colonized gender system in Latin America. Women, especially Indigenous females and those with a gender identity outside of the binary, have been inferiorized and devalued by the patriarchal system. This system was carried over by European colonizers and forced upon Indigenous communities in the process of colonization. In order to strip the native people of their power, colonizers attempted to erase their culture from the dominant historical narrative. Renata Flores combats this by presenting a decolonized version of Peruvian history in her music. She reshapes our perception of the role Indigenous women have historically and currently played in society by dedicating music to powerful figures that are excluded from historical narratives. In this paper, I will analyze how Flores uses her rap music to decolonize the gender system by embracing feminine power over the patriarchy in place.

Theoretical Framework:

Before understanding how rap music is used as a form of resistance, one must understand why there is a need for resistance. The gender system that dominates the majority of Latin America is based on white superiority and patriarchy, both being products of colonization. Maria Lugones’ The Coloniality of Gender establishes the historical context and modern effect of this colonized gender system. She explains how many pre-colonial societies were non-gendered or matriarchal. For example, the Yoruba Society in Africa had no gender system in place, but European colonizers implemented their binarily opposed and hierarchical system. Colonizers forced people who were anatomically female into the European categorization of women, which inferiorized their role in society. In America, many Indigenous communities had been matriarchies. In order to dominate the Indigenous people, colonizers destroyed these matriarchal systems and forced the people to assimilate to a patriarchal system. The colonial, Eurocentered gender system that has been implemented across the globe has violated the way pre-colonial societies functioned. Women have been inferiorized in comparison to men, people of color are inferiorized in comparison to white people, and those that do not identify within the binary gender system are stigmatized.

It is important to understand the processes of how pre-colonial gender systems and social cultures were sequestered. Decolonizing the Sodomite: Queer Tropes of Sexuality in Colonial Andean Culture explores how the intentional erasure of Indigenous culture and history allowed for the colonizer’s culture to dominate. The book explains how the Spanish Conquistadors’ effort to eliminate the third-gendered members of Andean society was “an attempt to destroy part of the people’s memory and understanding of the cosmos” (Horswell 4). The Andean people denoted power to androgynous and feminine figures, but this had gone against the masculine-centered, patriarchal cultural system that the colonizers followed. The Andean’s beliefs caused a disruption to the order of the Spanish gender system, so the Spanish began documenting third-gendered people as “debased sodomites” (4). Since the Andean people speak Quechua, a language that has no written form, the Spanish chronicles provide the only written documentation of Andean society from that time. The colonizers controlled the narrative. They intentionally distorted the reality of Andean culture to support their own systems. This erasure of pre-colonial culture is a common theme across the Americas. It has resulted in the domination of the colonized gender system over pre-colonial understandings.

The colonized gender system enforces gender-based discrimination in modern society. As explained by Susan Moller Okin in Is Multiculturalism Bad For Women?, places that were formerly conquered or colonized are now distinctly patriarchal, and have cultural practices and patterns of socialization that are aimed at bringing women under men’s control. As mentioned before, societies that once did not have gender binaries are now separated by man and woman, and societies that were matriarchal are now patriarchal as a result of colonization. This has resulted in severe gender-based discrimination, especially in Latin America. According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) report on women’s autonomy, intimate-partner violence is on the rise. The number of women’s deaths at the hands of their intimate or former partner has not decreased in recent years. Another ECLAC study determined that there are at least 23.5 million Indigenous women in Latin America who are affected by deep gender inequalities. Indigenous women face higher rates of teenage pregnancy, lower rates of economic participation, and lower rates of completed secondary schooling, which ECLAC notes is affected by the loss of native language. In many pre-colonial societies, women’s power in society was compatible with or equal to men’s, but now it is seen as contemptible. Men seek to control women, which is visible through the gender-based discrimination and violence they receive. The legacy of colonization has inferiorized and stripped many Indigenous women of their autonomy and equality.

In the face of gender inequality and the colonized gender system, there are activists who reject the dominant institutions and implement change. Castells’ The Power of Identity examines the three forms and origins of identity building in relation to the dominant power institutions. “Legitimizing identity” is introduced by the dominant institutions in place to rationalize their domination through social actors. This can be seen as the identity of the authority, the state, or administration. In this paper, legitimizing identity will be related to those that push the colonized gender system. “Resistance identity” is generated by social actors that are devalued or stigmatized by the dominant institution, which means that their resistance and survival is based on principles opposing the dominant institutions in society. Examples of this could be women of color who are inferiorized under the current gender system or third-gendered and queer people. “Project identity” is caused by social actors who redefine their role in society and seek to transform the overall structure. Activists are leaders who have been part of the collective resistance identity, but seek to expand a project identity by challenging the entire structure of the dominant institution. Indigenous feminist rappers play this role against the colonized gender system. In order to decolonize the gender system, society needs strong social actors to act as role models and bring change.

The Case:

Indigenous rapper Renata Flores releases trap music in Quechua, her ancestral language. Quechua is the native language of Indigenous people in the Andean region of South America which includes Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Argentina. Approximately 8 million people speak the language, yet it is on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) list of endangered languages. Many view it as a language of the past. Quechua has been closely associated with peasantry since colonial times. Indigenous youth often leave their ancestral culture behind to pursue a lifestyle that is more respected under the dominant Western institutions. Renata Flores is resisting the stereotypes associated with Quechua as well as its disappearance by ensuring its oral transmission through her music. The language was lost among the generation of her parents, so in an attempt to reconnect with her ancestral heritage, Flores began learning Quechua from her grandmother at fourteen years old. Soon after, videos of her singing a Quechua cover of “The House of the Rising Sun” by The Animals and “The Way You Make Me Feel” by Michael Jackson went viral. At sixteen years old, she began writing her own music.

Her first album, Isqun, was released in 2021. Isqun is the Quechua word for nine, which is the number that represents the soul in Indigenous Andean cosmology. Her songs are composed in a rap and trap style, and she combines Quechua and Spanish to ensure audiences will recognize the pride she has for her identity. Flores’ album explores five stages of Peruvian history through five songs named after emblematic Peruvian women. “Chañan Cori Coca” is dedicated to an Inca warrior and represents the pre-colonial history of Peru. “Francisca Pizarro” is about the mestiza daughter of the conquistador Francisco Pizarro and represents the Spanish invasion. “Beatriz Clara Coya” is about the last Incan princess who married a Spanish nobleman and represents the period of colonialism. “Maria Parado de Bellido” is dedicated to an Indigenous revolutionary who fought for Peruvian independence from Spain, representing Peru’s sovereignty. “Rita Puma Justo” is about a legendary teacher who defended the education of Indigenous children and represents the republic. Through these five songs, Flores shares the history, challenges, and strength of Andean women from pre-colonial times to present day. Not only does Flores vindicate her ancestral language by representing it in her music, she vindicates these feminine historical figures who are often excluded or glossed over in accounts of Peruvian history.

The music videos and visuals that accompany the album features a fusion of ancient and modern culture. Her music video for “Chañan Cori Coca” features a group of Indigenous women dressed up in traditional warrior garb as well as in modern costumes while performing hip-hop dances. Similarly, in Flores’ video for “Francisca Pizarro”, she wears brightly colored outfits and hairstyles inspired by traditional Andean clothing while rapping and hip-hop dancing. She represents herself as a strong figure in a genre and world that is dominated by men. Crowned as the “Queen of Quechua Rap” by the New York Times, Flores serves as a powerful role model for Indigenous youth to embrace their cultural identity.

Renata Flores’ music video for the song “Francisca Pizarro”

Analysis:

Renata Flores uses her music to defy the colonized gender system. As an Indigenous woman, she faces greater gender-based discrimination, speaks a stigmatized language, and her ancestral culture has been completely devalued by the dominant institutions in place. She has been part of what Castell’s defines as a collective resistance identity, living a life that is inferiorized by the patriarchy in power. Flores takes on the role of an activist for Indigenous people and marginalized gender identities. She has been able to use her music as a platform to spread anti-patriarchal and anti-colonial messages that defy the systems in power, generating a project identity. Her work resists the colonized gender system that has forcefully sequestered Indigenous culture. Isqun presents a decolonized and feminist version of Peruvian history.

As previously explained in Decolonizing the Sodomite, the Spanish conquistadors controlled the historical narrative and colonized it, intentionally distorting and erasing Indigenous culture in the process in order to establish patriarchal power. Flores’ album disrupts the version of history that is told in Peruvian history books. She highlights the five Indigenous women who are prominent figures in different phases of Peruvian history, yet are almost always excluded from the dominant narrative. She vindicates the reputation of women under the decolonized gender system. For example, in her music video for “Chañan Cori Coca”, the women dancers are presented as powerful warriors, a position that is commonly associated with masculinity despite the historical accounts of Coca’s accomplishments as a warrior. As mentioned in Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women?, women are not seen as independent from men and are instead viewed as something to control in patriarchal societies. Under the colonized gender system, women are seen as incapable of holding this type of warrior position. Flores breaks these conceptions by accompanying her music with powerful feminine visuals that decolonize the dominant narrative of Peruvian history.

Flores’ lyrics also contribute to her activism against the colonized gender system. In the song “Francisca Pizarro”, she sings in Quechua “Yawarninchik Qapariy, Yawarninchik Uyariy/ Kaypiraqmi Kachkaniku, Kallpayuqmi Sayariy!”, which roughly translates to “Our blood screams, our blood listens/ We’re still here, standing up strong”. Flores declares that her people have withstood the attempted eradication of Indigenous culture and will continue to persist. Many associate Quechua with peasantry, which is seen as weak, but Flores uses it as a language of power. Her use of Quechua instead of Spanish to convey this message serves as a form of resistance and ensures the oral transmission of the language. She links the strength to endure with feminine power, naming her song after a female historical figure and mentioning the famous Spanish singer Rosalía in her lyrics who, like Flores, represents a feminine figure in a genre dominated by men. Her album highlights feminine power in opposition to the colonized system in both contemporary and historical contexts.

Conclusion:

Renata Flores’s musical platform has allowed her to serve as a powerful role model for Indigenous youth. Many young Indigenous Andean people do not know Quechua and have loose ties with their ancestral culture due to the colonization of society. Flores combats this generational loss of language by incorporating Quechua into her music aimed at young-adult audiences. She is an example of someone who actively sought to reconnect with her culture even though her parents did not speak the language. Not only does she encourage young people to learn it through her music, she also teaches the language on YouTube by covering popular songs in Quechua. Her album Isqun incorporates Quechua to educate listeners about a decolonized version of Peruvian history where women are seen as powerful figures. She shares the stories of her ancestors that European colonizers attempted to erase. Through her music, Flores elevates perceptions of Quechua from being the language of the poor to the language of powerful Indigenous and feminist resistance, encouraging young Indigenous people to reconnect with their ancestral culture.

Renata Flores is just one of many Indigenous musicians who seek to decolonize society and our perceptions of gender. Other musicians include award-winning Lido Pimienta, an Afro-Colombian Indigenous Wayuu woman. She left Colombia when she was young and moved to Canada to escape the violence, but remains proud of her identity and advocates against the oppression she has faced. In her latest album, Miss Colombia, she explores both her Afro and Indigenous roots. She affiliates herself closely with another music collective called the Halluci Nation (previously known as A Tribe Called Red). The Halluci Nation is a group of DJs from varying Indigenous tribes across the Americas, and they articulate a message of pan-Indigenous solidarity and sovereignty in their work. The Halluci Nation also works to decolonize perceptions of masculinity. Music is a powerful platform for Indigenous activists to share their ancestral cultures with audiences. It has historically been and continues to be a form of social protest. In a society where colonization has resulted in gender-based discrimination and the erasure of culture, we must support the activists that stand up for justice.

Works Cited 

Castells, Manuel. The Power of Identity. Chichester, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.

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