Jorge A. García-Granados

This study explores how Spanish-proficient clergymen in colonial Cuzco translated the drama of damnation into Quechua, the primary indigenous language of Peru. By examining catechisms, paintings, and Spanish plays from the colonial era that served as models, this project tracks the artistic mechanisms that animate three “Andean Fausts.” It argues that the colonial subjects behind these plays attempted to associate the indigenous populations with an inclusive spiritual life. Examining the dramas in context reveals the complexity of Quechua theatre’s cultural signification in the eighteenth century.