Welcome to the WHIRL Project!
Winter Count by Rafael Mena.
The Western Hemisphere Indigenous Reference Library (WHIRL) project is focused on the digitization, preservation, and presentation of indigenous manuscripts from what is now called the America's and Eastern Polynesia. In its current rendition the project area of interest is limited to manuscripts that display literary traditions that predate local Afro-Eurasian contact but were not produced after 1860. This project was motivated by the existence of similar archives for other historical periods and languages, which further highlight a gap in the representation of indigenous literary traditions. The current fractured approach to accessing these texts makes scholarship on the subject needlessly difficult.
Mexica Tlacuilo by Rafael Mena.
This project takes a broad and inclusive definition of what constitutes "writing" similar to what is presented by Mikulska & Offner et al. 2019. As such this project will focus on many literary systems that may not often be included in that category prefering to use the terminology of "Graphic Communication Systems" wherever possible. The WHIRL project intends to roll out in "phases" with each phase of the archive presenting different bodies of literary work. Currently the WHIRL archive is in phase one and will contain texts primarily from Central and South America.
Quechua Quipucamayoc by Rafael Mena.
It's important to say that written literature is not more important or more authentic than oral literature. The exclusion of oral literature/history from this project is based solely on the existence of well run archival projects that focus on indigenous oral literatures, histories, and traditions. In the hope of ensuring the long term stability of the archive the files for each text will be hosted on the Internet Archive rather than this site. A link to the IA page can be found below.