Peruvian Government Honors DU Spanish Professor for Quechua and Andean Scholarship

Professor Alison Krögel (center) stands with Andrés Garrido (left), minister counselor and head of the Public Diplomacy Department of the Embassy of Peru in the U.S. and Luis Solari (right), consul general of Peru to the U.S. at the Peruvian Consulate in Denver. Krögel was recently recognized by the Peruvian government for her teaching, scholarship, community engagement and advocacy related to the country’s culture.

Professor Alison Krögel was recently recognized by the Peruvian government for her teaching, scholarship, community engagement and advocacy related to the country’s culture.

Andrés Garrido, minister counselor and head of the Public Diplomacy Department of the Embassy of Peru in the United States, inducted Dr. Krögel into the Order of Merit for Distinguished Services in the Grade of “Grand Officer” on Dec. 5 during an on-campus ceremony.

For the last 22 years, Krögel has worked to make visible — and advocate on behalf of — Quechua-speaking Peruvian sheepherders living in Colorado and Wyoming.

Two of Krögel’s most recent Andean Studies projects include a trilingual digital Quechua poetry platform called "Musuq Illa” and a digital humanities and museum exhibition project called “The Aspen Archives: Sheepherder Testimonies.”

“I feel incredibly honored and humbled that the Peruvian government has recognized my Andean and Quechua Studies research and service with an Order of Merit,” Krögel said. “The country and people of Perú have given me so much throughout my life, that I have always been motivated to do what I can to share and celebrate the beauty and complexity of Quechua and Andean cultural and literary traditions with a variety of audiences in the US and abroad.”

Krögel is currently a professor of Spanish with a specialization in Andean and Quechua literary and cultural studies in the Department of Spanish Language, Literary & Cultural Studies.

The Peruvian resolution, published on Aug. 25, states that “Krögel has made outstanding contributions to the cultural and consular aspects of Peru’s Foreign Policy, through her professional trajectory, her work to recognize and promote the Quechua language, and her constant work to protect and support the labor rights and wellbeing of Peruvian sheepherders in the USA" (translation from Spanish).

Krögel first experienced the Andean region and its complex and varied cultures during a study abroad program in Ecuador in 1999 while studying at the University of Washington. Since then, Krögel has lived in various regions of the Andean highlands and studied the Quechua language and literature in universities in Perú and the U.S.

“Andean Studies is such a rich, interdisciplinary field, spanning so many complex and beautiful countries, histories, literatures, cultures, and languages," Krögel said. “I’ve been given the opportunity to work within many different academic disciplines and to try out many methodologies and project platforms — this always keeps me interested and motivated to learn from others."