AWASQA

  • The Voice of Ckuri: The Revitalization of the Kunza Language in the Salta Puna Region, Argentina

    We agreed to meet at a linguistics conference in the city of Salta. Our common interests were joining the sessions on glottopolitics and sociolinguistics and scant opportunities to discuss current research on the country’s indigenous languages. We wondered whether the topic had made it on the research and academic linguistic event’s agenda, after the United…

  • Ecuador: Indigenous Party and Organizations Call to Boycott Presidential Elections

    FROM THE EDITORS: Ecuador is again in turmoil. The only indigenous party, Plurinational Unity Movement Pachakutik (MUPP) List 18, born from popular resistance in the 1990s, and most national indigenous organizations have publicly called people to void their vote, “Vote Null,” in the next round of presidential elections set for April 11. (Voting is compulsory…

  • Fanesca as a Symbol of Resistance and Community Relations

    Easter week is here, and it’s that time of the year when families in Ecuador and Ecuadorian immigrants in the US, Canada, and Europe prepare fanesca, one of the most intricate dishes I’ve had the pleasure to prepare and eat. It is so complex that people often gather their extended families to help in the…

  • Fundación Colectivo Epew

    Colectivo Epew Premiered Radio Teatro Mapuche to Rescue Oral Traditions

    FROM THE EDITORS: The Epew Collective is a theater group with Mapuche and Chilean members, that works in “defense of native peoples, community art, and interculturality.” Below we reproduce an article about a new bilingual project, Radio Teatro Mapuche, which was made for children without access to internet in Mapuche territory, who have been taking…

  • Deb Haaland as a symbol of indigenous millennial victory in the U.S.

    The new U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland, is the first indigenous person to hold that position and the first to serve in a U.S. presidential cabinet. The significance of this achievement is emblematic of the mining struggle of indigenous peoples in the north and will have significant consequences in the defense of their…

  • Brazilian Court Calls for $1 Million Daily Fine to End Illegal Mining in Indigenous Lands

    A federal court in Brazil has ruled that unless illegal miners or garimpeiros are removed from Yanomami lands in the next 10 days, government institutions in Brazil will be fined $1 million reais (close to $182K in US dollars) until they comply with this order. This story has significant consequences on how Amazon forests are…

  • Foto de portada: Tomada de educo.org – créditos Jesús G. Pastor – www.unfotografo.es

    The Challenges of Teaching Indigenous Languages to Children

    FROM THE EDITORS: The following article on indigenous language pedagogy and challenges was originally published in Entremundos, an organization in Guatemala that provides support and training workshops towards social initiatives. Their Revista sobre Derechos Humanos y Desarrollo (Human Rights and Development Magazine) is a print and online publication that provides an impressive work of community…

  • Ecuador’s Water Rights Presidential Candidate

    Ecuador’s first round of presidential elections took place on Sunday, February 7, leaving three finalists for the second round (yet to be defined, by a vote count): a self-appointed socialist, Andrés Arauz Galarza; an indigenous environmentalist, Yaku Pérez; and a banker, Guillermo Lasso. Yaku Pérez has shown in the days following the election that there…

  • Illustrations by Christelle Enault

    The Serviceberry: An Economy of Abundance

    FROM THE EDITORS: This article was originally published in Emergence Magazine. We are grateful to them, who have authorized its publication and translation into Spanish in Awasqa. The cool breath of evening slips off the wooded hills, displacing the heat of the day, and with it come the birds, as eager for the cool as…