Chapter 1: Introduction

Rosario Castellanos' (1962) The Book of Lamentations and Mario Vargas Llosas' (1981) The War of the End of the World tell epic stories of poor indigenous people fighting for their physical and spiritual lives. Both describe fictional characters, inhabiting the impoverished states of Chiapas in Mexico (Castellanos) and Bahia in Brazil (Llosas), who were inspired by real people and events to revolt. As in these books so in ‘life’: intertwined Catholic and local beliefs have been narrative resources in actual indigenous revolts against ethnic, class and colonial hierarchies. Narratives can also legitimise conquest, and not just rebellion, as Keeton (2015) shows in his analysis of the link between Old Testament narratives and the colonisation of the US. Biblical stories move: they are carried and passed on by people, traversing continents and oceans. Narratives also travel in time, enduring thousands of years, continuously changing and intermingling with other stories.