El discurso andino en Los rios profundos

This thesis examines the arduous and controversial attempt of literary critics to
classify appropriately the novel Los rfos profundos (Deep Rivers) by the Peruvian
novelist and ethnographer, Jose Marfa Arguedas and reviews the main theories that were
applied to decipher its meaning. But more than a task of classifying, the thesis itself is a
work of interpretation, which required broadening the research boundaries previously
employed. Confronting the dominance of Western discourse that has shaped how we
understand Andean literature, I identify the elements of indigenous Andean discourse that
are deeply embedded in the novel. This perspective may decisively influence the way we
read Latin American Literature and hopes to more rigorously draw attention to the
presence of ancestral indigenous civilization in the cultural identity of Latin America.