Funerary Services for Angela (Sonquo) Tapia Arce

English / Español / Quechua

It is with a heavy heart that we announce that Angela (Sonquo) Milagro Tapia Arce has transitioned to the afterlife. Just as she was beginning her promising scholarly career, she was impacted by severe and chronic illness. After years of efforts to recover her health, she passed away in her sleep on the morning of Saturday 29, April 2023 in her home in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Angela was born into a Quechua family in the Andean Altiplano. She grew up between Puno, Juliaca, and Arequipa before arriving in Lima as a young adult. She earned a B.A. in Law at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú in 2000. As a lawyer in Perú, she dedicated eight years of her life to Indigenous Peoples’ rights advocacy with the Shipibo peoples while based in the Amazonian city of Pucallpa. In 2010, she moved to the United States to attend the University of Texas at Austin where she earned a MA and PhD in Latin American Studies. Angela was part of many scholarly communities, including the Native American and Indigenous Studies Program Students Association, Quechua Tinkuy, and El Taller de Historia Oral Andina. She actively contributed to community building by organizing events, sharing her work, and always offering her unique and witty humor that could catch you off-guard and lift your spirits with laughter. She was a very tender friend who never failed to have words of encouragement and brought attention to the many beautiful details that make up life. In her dissertation, titled “Mujeres de Polleras: Tailoring a Way of Being in the Andean Altiplano,” she wrote passionately, lovingly, and poetically about las mujeres de polleras and their relationship with clothes, beauty, belonging, and Indigeneity. She sewed her own polleras and wore them with pride and joy.

In the 2021-2022 academic year, she taught a course on “Indigenous Feminisms” at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s American Indian Studies Program where she was a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow. She was preparing an academic article for the Bolivian Studies Journal based on her ethnographic research. She was also scheduled to begin a multi-year postdoctoral position in 2024 with Vassar College’s Department of Anthropology and looked forward to further expanding her scholarly community on the East Coast.

She is survived by her husband Michael Reyes Salas, who she married on 24 July 2020, their 3-year-old cat Upa, and a network of friends and family across the globe who loved her very deeply.

Whether you knew Angela personally, and were blessed to experience her wonderful friendship and collegiality, or know her family, or simply would like to extend your support at this time we are asking for monetary donations to help cover Angela’s final health-related expenses, funerary, memorial, and international burial costs, as well as the surviving family’s immediate personal expenses.

Feel free to contribute via:

Servicios funerarios para Angela Tapia Arce

Con gran pesar, anunciamos que Angela (Sonquo) Milagro Tapia Arce ha pasado a la otra vida. Justo cuando comenzaba su prometedora carrera académica, se vio afectada por una enfermedad grave y crónica. Tras años de esfuerzos por recuperar su salud, falleció mientras dormía en la mañana del sábado 29 de abril de 2023 en su casa de Poughkeepsie, Nueva York.

Angela nació en una familia quechua del Altiplano andino. Creció entre Puno, Juliaca y Arequipa antes de mudarse a Lima. Se licenció en Derecho por la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú en 2000. Como abogada en Perú, dedicó ocho años de su vida a la defensa de los derechos del pueblo indígena Shipibo en la ciudad amazónica de Pucallpa. En 2010, se trasladó a los Estados Unidos para asistir a la Universidad de Texas en Austin, donde obtuvo una maestría y un doctorado en Estudios Latinoamericanos. Angela formó parte de muchas comunidades académicas, como Native American and Indigenous Studies Program Students Association, Quechua Tinkuy y El Taller de Historia Oral Andina. Contribuyó activamente a la construcción de comunidad organizando eventos, compartiendo su trabajo y con su humor único e ingenioso que podía pillarte desprevenidx y levantarte el ánimo con una carcajada. Era una amiga muy tierna que nunca dejaba de tener palabras de aliento y siempre atenta a los muchos y hermosos detalles que conforman la vida. En su tesis, titulada "Mujeres de polleras: Tailoring a Way of Being in the Andean Altiplano", escribió con pasión, amor y poéticamente sobre las mujeres de polleras y su relación con la ropa, la belleza, la pertenencia y la indigenidad. Angela cosía sus propias polleras y las llevaba con orgullo y alegría.

En el año académico 2021-2022, impartió un curso sobre "Feminismos indígenas" en el American Indian Studies Program de la Universidad de Illinois en Urbana-Champaign, donde realizaba un postdoctorado en calidad de Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow. Angela estaba preparando un artículo académico para la revista Bolivian Studies Journal basado en su investigación etnográfica. También estaba previsto que en 2024 comenzara a trabajar en el Departamento de Antropología de Vassar College y esperaba seguir ampliando su comunidad académica en la costa este.

A su muerte le sobreviven su marido Michael Reyes Salas, con quien se casó el 24 de julio de 2020, su gato Upa de 3 años y una red de amigxs y familiares de todo el mundo que la querían profundamente.

Si conociste personalmente a Angela, tuviste la bendición de experimentar su maravillosa amistad y compañerismo, si conoces a su familia o, simplemente, te gustaría extender tu apoyo en este momento, agradeceríamos tu aporte monetario para ayudar a cubrir los últimos gastos relacionados con la salud de Angela, los gastos funerarios, conmemorativos y de entierro internacional, así como los gastos personales inmediatos de la familia.

Se puede realizar donaciones por los siguientes medios:

Masinchis Angelata yuyarispa

Sinchi llakikuywanmi willakamuyku ancha kuyakusqanchis masillanchis Angela Sonquo Tapia Arcen Hanaq Pachaman ñawparusqanmanta. Payqa hamaut’a hina llank’ayninta qallarichkaqtinmi huk mana atina unquywan hapirachikurqa. Chaymi kay pasaq watakuna payqa tukuy imata ruwarqa kay unquymanta hampikunanpaq ima ichaqa manapuni atirunchu. Kay pasaq sabado 29 abril p’unchawtataq Poughkeepsiepi, New York llaqtapi ñawparun Hanaq Pacha Yayanchis wasinman.

Angelaqa Runasimi rimakuq ayllumanta warmin karan. Payqa llaqtanchiskunapi ayllumantan riki hinaspa tiyakurqa Punopi, Juliacapi, Arequipapi ima manaraq Limaman sipas hina chayaqtin. Limapi payqa Pontificia Católica Hatun yachaywasipi yachakurqa, chaypitaq 2000 watapiraq abogada tituluyuq lluqsispa yaqa pusaq wata llamk’aran llaqtanchiskunata amachakuspa. Shipibo masinchiskunatam yanaparqa Peru suyu yunka llaqtakunapi Pucallpa llaqtapi.

Chaymantataq 2010 watapi Estados Unidosman illamuran astawan yachayninkuna wiñarichinanpaq Fundación Ford yanapayninwan. Chaymi Texas Hatun Yachaywasipi qispichiran Latinoamerica nisqa yachaykunata Maestría hinallataq Doctorado nisqakuna atipanankama. Texaspitaq Angelaqa aylluchakuran yachaqmasinkunawan NAIS ukupi, Quechua Tinkuy ukupi, hinallataq chay watakunallataq payqa Bolivia suyupi aylluchakuran Taller de Historia Oral Andina ukupi. Texaspi yachakuspataq Angelaqa sumaqta wakin yachaqmasinkunawan tiyakuran hinaspa kusisqalla kayninwan wakin masinkunatapas kusirichiranpuni.

Kay yachaynintataq mat’iparan huk yachaykunawan: warmikunamanta hinallataq llaqtanchiskuna runakunamanta yachaykunawan ima. Doctoradonta qispirichiran chaypaqtaq k’uskiriran Peru hinallataq Bolivia suyukunapi chay k’uskiynintataq riqsirichiran hatu hatun huñunakuykunapi Estados Unidos suyupi kaqllataq huk suyukunapipas. Kay tukuyninmantaq qillqariran huk hatun taparipi lliw k’uskirisqanta, kaytataq suticharan “Pollerakunayuq Warmikuna: Warmi kayta pushkaspa Altiplano llaqtakunapi.” Pollerakunayuq warmikunamantataq tukuy sunqunwan qillqariran imaynatas, imapaqsi, imaynanpis paykuna aqnata p’achakunku ima riqsirichinanpaq. Angelaqa kikinpunin pollerantaqa awakuran chaymantataq chaywanpas p’achakuran ancha kusikuywan.

2021-2022 watapin, Doctoradota tukuspa, qallarian llank’ayta Illinois Urbana-Champaign Hatun Yachaywasipi. Kay Yachaywasimantaq chayaran huk Postdoctoral llank’anawan. Chaypitaq payqa yachachiran “Indígena nisqa warmikunamanta” yachayta waynasipas yachakuqkunaman. Chay watakunan payqa qillqachkaran huk artículo nisqata Boliviamanta Yachachikuq Revistapaq k’uskisqanmanta riqsirichinanpaq. Chaymantataq payqa Vassar College Hatun Yachaywasiman rinan karan chaypi astawan yachayninkunata hinallataq k’uskiriyninkunata ima wiñarichinanpaq riqsirichinanpaq ima. Chaypitaq Antropología yachaykuna ukupi llank’anan karan.

Payqa qayna watakunaqa tiyakuran qusanwanmi. Qusanmi masinchis Michael Reyes Salas, paywanmi casarakurqa 24 julio killapi 2020 watapi. Chaymantataq Angelaqa uywakuran 3 watachayuq michichanta, Upa nispataqmi suticharqa michichantaqa. Kaqllataq payqa hinalla masillankunawanpas allinllata apanakurqa kuyanakuspa kawsakuspalla.

Masinchis Angelata riqsiranki chayqa, riqsiranki allin runalla, allin yachaqmasilla kasqanta ima chayqa utaq kay ayllunpaq sasa pachapi yanapakullayta munankiman chayqa, ayllun hinan huk hatun ayninakuyta mast’arichkayku. Icha yanapakuyniykiwan chikan qullqi huñullaytapas yanapayuwankikuman. Ayllunmi llasaq qullqita tukuruqa manucharukurqa ima Angela hampikunanpaq chaymi kananqa mana qullqiyuq qiparukuyku. Chaymi yanapakuyniykita maskachkayku, kayqa aynillan kanqa masilláy.

Kay ukuntataq yanapakuyniykita chayarichimunkiman: