Chuqui Chinchay as La Dekoloniala!

Logo by Rossana Mercado-Rojas, 2020

Chuqui Chinchay. is a two gender, jaguar deity worshiped by indigenous cultures mainly in what is now called Peru. Only third-gender maestros called Qari Warmi could led the rituals in their honor. Their androgynous clothing were a visible sign of a third-space, a space between masculine and feminine, the present and the past, and the living and the dead. They invoked a creative force, within and without the binaries of human existence. The spanish colonizers tried to erase any trace of indigenous knowledge, in this case regarding sexual and gender diversity; the catholic religion was imposed with cruelty and indigenous practices were completely criminalized.

In La Dekoloniala! we chose Chuqui Chinchay as a way to bring up a symbol of the knowledge that was erased through the colonization process. With Chuqui Chinchay we embody – fiercely – our goals as an organization.