The Department of Spanish and Portuguese would like to congratulate SPPO Graduate Teaching Assistant, Santiago Gualapuro Gualapuro, on the success of his webinar series that was held throughout the month of May on Radio Iluman’s Facebook page! 

The webinar series involved a number of Kichwa experts and covered a wide array of topics, all discussed in Kichwa. Experts included Isabel Gualapuro of the Universidad Central Quito, Israel Andrango of the Centro de Mediacion Comunitaria, Daqui Lema of the Pontificia Universidad Catolica Ibarra, Fabian Muenala of the radio station Kichwa, and OSU’s own Santiago Gualapuro Gualapuro. Each webinar addressed an important and timely issue, such as the Kichwa language policy, health issues facing Kichwa communities, the Kichwa legal system, and migration.

The webinar series was incredibly successful. The Radio Iluman’s Facebook page had an average attendance of 3,000 people. A GoFundMe campaign was launched in conjunction with the webinar to fundraise for food kits for members of Santiago Gualapuro Gualapuro’s community. The GoFundMe was able to collect a total of $325 dollars, which paid for 25 families’ food kits for a week. 

When reflecting on the event, Daqui Lema stated that “the webinar has been an important space for discussion, where different specialists from indigenous communities can exchange their opinions and ideas.” He also noted that the use of Kichwa as the official language of the webinar improves local transmission of information and serves as a way to protect the language from disappearing.

This webinar series was co-sponsored by Ecuador's Radio Iluman and Pontificia Universidad Catolica Ibarra, along with OSU's Center for Latin American Studies and the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. To view the episodes from the webinar series, please visit the links below.  

• Santiago Gualapuro Gualapuro’s webinar presentation on the Otavalo people.
• Daqui Lema’s webinar presentation on indigenous rights during the time of a pandemic.
• Israel Andrango’s webinar presentation on indigenous laws and their validity under the Ecuadorian legal system.
• Isabel Gualapuro’s webinar presentation on sleep apnea and snoring.
• Fabian Muenala’s webinar presentation on the migration of indigenous people out of Otavalo and organization experience overseas.