Lili’s Library My late Abuelita Lilia Rosa Garcia Zapata was born in Oruro, Bolivia. She was one of six children and would grow to be the matriarch of my family. I owe my passion for Bolivia and for Andean & Indigenous Studies to what my Abuelita Lili taught me, a love for weaving, crocheting, textiles, and Andean heritage. As the two of us grew older, she gave me many pieces of Spanish literature that she loved. I often wonder if she knew she was fueling my love for my current studies. In the years since she has moved on from our world, we carry on with the traditions she taught us. We still honor the Ekeko and Pachamama and I practice weaving and Quechua now. At this point, I inherited all her books since no one else in the family wanted them. What I have inherited in reality is Lili’s library. I can continue to learn from her through her books. The knowledge that I gained from these books is the same that she knew, and although I cannot learn these things from her anymore, I can learn from that which she has given me. It was these books that introduced me to Bolivian authors Alcides Arguedas and Franz Tamayo. My Abuelita was a Quechua/ Aymara woman and maintained her Chola fashion even once in the United States. She was powerfully Indigenous and her perspective was clear in her books. Most of the books in her collection focus on Indigenous people or the Andes. When authors like Tamayo would write something discriminatory or biased towards Indigenous people in their literature, Abuelita Lili wrote in the book to correct such erroneous statements. Of the other books was a Quechua-Spanish medical dictionary (she trained to be a USA military nurse in emergency neurosurgery). Another was a photobook of La Paz commissioned by the Bolivian Governor at the time published to show La Paz as a predominantly Indigenous and yet ‘modern’ city. I did my senior thesis on this photobook. From a young age, my Abuelita Lili taught me histories that were not taught in school. She helped feed me the knowledge that they were not teaching. It makes me question how much longer our history and others like ours will not be taught publicly or correctly. I understand that, although my Abuelita Lili had the same passion for Spanish Literature and Andean & Indigenous culture, she could not pursue such a thing as a career. Neither could my first-generation mother. I am privileged by the work my Abuelita Lili and my mother have done in order to allow me such academic freedom. I feel it is because of my Bolivian matriarchs that I have the privilege to study Andean & Indigenous Studies and, by doing so, I hope to provide a platform for Bolivians to speak about their history and cultural knowledge like my Abuelita Lili did with me. My dream is to become a professor in Andean & Indigenous Studies and I am currently applying for Ph.D. programs to accomplish my goal. I have also been volunteering time with The Quechua Alliance and have started a Quechua- English language pilot program and an IG live series called Yachay Talks (‘yachay’ means knowledge or information in Quechua). The Yachay Talks series intends to create a space that welcomes dialog and discussion about different cultural knowledges for an hour every month!