AWASQA

  • Medellín Is Also Black

    Medellín Is Also Black

    Colombia, 2026. Medellín is a place that has inspired songs such as “Me voy para Medellín” by El Combo de las Estrellas, “Medellín” by Madonna, and even “Medallo City” by Maluma, all of which praise its natural beauty, culture, and nightlife. However, the fantasy conveyed by the international music industry disappears just a few streets…

  • Mural de persona afrocolombiana escuchando una caracola

    Medellín Is Also Black

    Colombia, 2026. Medellín is a place that has inspired songs such as “Me voy para Medellín” by El Combo de las Estrellas, “Medellín” by Madonna, and even “Medallo City” by Maluma, all of which praise its natural beauty, culture, and nightlife. However, the fantasy conveyed by the international music industry disappears just a few streets…

  • Ancestral Diversities: A Contemplation on Reconstructing our Memories

    “Is it possible to be Mapuche and marika (queer)? What do people think of those who are like me?” These questions sparked a number of conversations about how Mapuche history has been shaped by many attempts to erase the existence of the diversities that inhabit Wallmapu (Mapuche Territory). Thus, little by little, the vindication of…

  • Aymara Communities in Puno File Lawsuit Against 7 Mining Concessions

    The Aymara peasant communities of the Kelluyo district, in the province of Chucuito, Puno region, filed an injunction against the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MINEM), the Geological Mining and Metallurgical Institute (INGEMMET) and a foreign investment mining company for the imposition of seven mining concessions located in their territories. This legal action is an…

  • Jichi, the Water Keeper

    A mysterious being manifests itself usually as a large snake. The basin of the Guapomó dam or reservoir is located within the Chiquitano Dry Forest of the department of Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Its waters flow into the San Ignacio de Velasco dam, which covers an area of 300 square kilometers. Its ecosystem is under the…

  • Earth Homes: A Dignified Way of Living on Mother Earth

    When he died, his house was abandoned, it fell apart little by little from the rain and the sun, the plants climbed through the windows and the earth with which it was built was reintegrated to its source. In the rural territories of Mexico, the act of building homes with earth is so ancestral that…

  • Bienvenidos a Tambogrande

    Stirring Announcement of the El Algarrobo Project Rekindles Tambogrande’s Historic Struggle Against Mining

    Following the declaration of national interest of the El Algarrobo polymetallic mining project, located in Tambogrande, Piura region, grassroots social organizations established a transitory commission to collectively respond to this provocation made by the Agencia de Promoción de la Inversión Privada (ProInversión) and the Ministry of Energy and Mines (Minem). In 2002, the district of…

  • Yoo ne luguiaa: How Do Binnizá Women Inhabit Spaces?

    The diverse ways in which indigenous women inhabit a space, allow us to recognize identity and gender issues and enable us to analyze territorial problems by interweaving the gaze of thousands of people who share the same space. Every place we inhabit ends up being a biographical slice of our life histories, full of traces…

  • What Is an Imaginary State Called Kailasa Doing in Ecuador, and Why Is It Interested in the Indigenous Territories of the Ecuadorian Amazon?

    What Are the United States of Kailasa? The self-proclaimed Hindu religious leader Nithyananda Paramashivam claims to be the founder in 2019 of the United States of Kailasa. Kailasa is said to be located in Latin America, on an island near the Galapagos archipelago in Ecuador, according to a report by the BBC. Vistazo magazine in…

  • 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…