Transnational Fiesta: 1992

Until recently, it was widely assumed that Native communities throughout the Americas would be absorbed into the mainstream or otherwise disappear. But 500 years after the beginning of the Conquest, indigenous peoples are asserting their presence and identity with renewed vigor. 

In 1991, Teodocio and Julia Quispe, a transmigrant couple living in Washington, returned to their homeland, Cabanaconde, an indigenous peasant community in the southern Andes of Peru, to celebrate the annual patron saint fiesta. It was the first time that this major religious celebration was sponsored by Cabaneños living outside of Peru. 

Transnational Fiesta: 1992 documents this landmark celebration as well as the Quispes' multicultural and transnational experiences in Washington and Cabanaconde. Members of their extended family, including North Americans, and other migrants also participate in the Fiesta, where the complexities of cultural identity, religious syncretism, interethnic marriages, migration, and racism all converge. 

The film reveals how the perpetuation and constant re-invention of village ceremonial life and identity are influenced by the migrants. It also shows how the migrants' own sense of ethnic identity is shaped both by their ongoing participation in the ceremonial life of their native community and by their experiences in the U.S. 

Defying the stereotypical perception of indigenous peoples as backward, isolated, and static in time, the film shows how the Quispes are at the forefront of a global phenomenon, expanding their archipelago of migrant enclaves. 

Transnational Fiesta: 1992 will generate thought and discussion in a wide variety of courses in cultural anthropology, Latin American studies, American studies, and social psychology and sociology.

Receive a discount when you purchase both Transnational Fiesta: 1992 and Transnational Fiesta: Twenty Years Later on DVD. Please contact us for more information.