• The Legacy of the Ajq’ij: Bridging Our Past and Present

    In the heart of the indigenous territories in Guatemala, the ancestral knowledge of Mayan healers resonates, as guardians of millenary wisdom and caretakers of the health and wellbeing of their communities. The Ajq’ijab’ (timekeepers) not only heal the body, but are care for the spirit and to help us keep our connection with Mother Earth…

  • Reconnecting with Pacha: Photographic Essay

    For millennia, people have integrated agriculture into their way of life. The communities of the altiplano have a special connection with the land because it provides them with food. For this reason, Aymara culture is strongly linked to rituals such as the challa,[1] at carnivals and in August, which is the month of Pachamama. …

  • Caminando hacia el monte

    “They say there are mushrooms in the hills…”

    “They talked about God in the woods, the fog was heavy and strangely warm, I don’t believe in god, and yet I am amazed to the point of superstition at the sheer beauty of this world.”—Julio Delgado, personal communication, 2023 When the first thunder rumbles through the earth and echoes through the ravines, the ladies…

  • Mining without consent

    Mining Without Consent: A Documentary from Oaxaca, Mexico

    Mining represents a serious threat to indigenous communities in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. In the Central Valleys, 12 communities have organized to confront this problem and to defend their territories and dignity. However, despite presenting evidence, testimonies, and records, and in violation of the communities’ right to self-determination, the federal government, through the Mexican Ministry…

  • Maria Luna midwife. Photo: Juan Carlos Guzmán Luna

    Learning to Feel Babies Inside Us: Wisdom from Majosik, Chiapas

    FROM THE EDITORS: This beautiful article is part of the Tzam Trece Semillas Zapatistas project, a plural, multicultural space that proposes a dialogue (tzam means dialogue in Ayapaneco) between communities, ideas, projects, dreams of the original Mexican peoples. The project’s goal is to publish the work of 130 collaborators in thirteen months, from May 2021…

  • EfrenDelRosal, Wikimedia

    Indigenous Midwives and Healers Denounce Appropriation of Traditional Medicine via Mexico’s Health Law Reform

    FROM THE EDITORS: Last April, the House of Representatives approved reforms to Mexico’s Health Law to regulate traditional and complementary medicine. Several indigenous and civil society groups have rejected the reforms, calling the law unconstitutional for violating the right of indigenous people to free, prior, and informed consent. Traditional indigenous medicine and practices, including midwifery,…

  • Documento del MINEM no considera pueblos afectados por la minería

    Peru Gives Continuity to Mining Policies without Guarantees to Human Rights

    FROM THE EDITORS: From Peru, Red Muqui shares an analysis of the Ministry of Energy’s new mining program under Pedro Castillo’s government, which essentially gives continuity to past mining policies. There is great concern about an obvious omission in recent documents of the human and social rights of indigenous and campesino communities, when Castillo had…

  • Mujeres celebran la despenalización del aborto

    Ecuador: Indigenous Women Speak Out on Abortion Rights

    FROM THE EDITORS: Patricia Yallico from ACAPANA hosts the show “Insurrectas,” a show posted regularly on their social media. We are featuring this conversation below with Paolina Vercoutere of the Otavalo people and Ana Cristina Vera of Surkuna, an organization that fights for women’s reproductive and access to abortion rights. In April of 2021, Ecuador’s…