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Miriam Liggins

Thesis Title (PhD)

“QUECHUA ONLINE: MOVING KNOWLEDGE AND LANGUAGE IN TIME AND SPACE”

This project investigates Quechua language teaching and learning, and the transmission of Indigenous knowledge during the Covid-19 pandemic.

My research focusses specifically on how and why people are learning Quechua online, through both synchronous and asynchronous group courses. I will explore teachers’ and learners’ motivations, and their experiences of these classes. In addition, traditional Andean knowledge is being increasingly broadcast online, often incorporating non-written media such as music, textiles and Quechua myths. This study examines how online platforms are being used for this purpose, with a specific focus on the role of Quechua in the transmission of ancestral knowledge.

I will consider how online spaces are being used to transmit Indigenous knowledge and language, uncovering participants’ engagement with, and sharing of Quechua language and knowledge in cyberspace.

Supervisory Team

Patricia Oliart, School of Modern Languages, Newcastle University

Rosaleen Howard, School of Modern Languages, Newcastle University