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  • 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…

  • Wounded Knee: A Lasting Struggle for Indigenous Rights

    On December 29, the Wounded Knee massacre is commemorated in the US, where more than 300 men, women, and children lost their lives under the hands of the US military forces. The Big Foot Memorial Riders (now called the Future Generation Memorial Riders, O’maka Tokatakiya) commemorate this date through a spiritual ritual of empowerment and…

  • Honduras: Guancasco Lenca, A Peace Ritual Between Indigenous Peoples

    Photos by Pável Uranga Before the arrival of the Spaniards to Abya Yala, indigenous peoples maintained their cultural customs and traditions, as old as more than two thousand years before our era, even older in some areas. With the arrival of the Spaniards, everything was desecrated: peoples, cultures, historical records (pyramids, codices, languages, traditions, written,…

    Tribes Lead the Way to Revive Regional Salmon Runs

    This article first appeared on smea.uw.edu/currents, a student-run blog about pressing environmental issues, hosted by the University of Washington School of Marine and Environmental Affairs, “Tribes Lead the Way to Revive Regional Salmon Runs” By George Thomas Jr. We are all salmon people, and we know what we need to do. Such was the message…

    Bolivia: Indigenous and Campesino Organizations Reconvene, Reject their Movements’ Politicization

    In public communiqués, several indigenous and peasant organizations in Bolivia summoned the social, environmental and indigenous movements, which suffered divisions after several years of politicization under the government of the Movement to Socialism (MAS) party and Evo Morales, to continue to resist extractivist policies of the old and current government. After proclaiming herself president of…

  • Minga-Indígena-3_COP25 Foto: www.educaoaxaca.org

    25 Years of Climate Summits Without Results: Young People and Indigenous People Express Their Exhaustion

    After 25 years of hearing broken promises and empty rhetoric proposals, young people and indigenous peoples raised their voices at the Climate Summit in Madrid (COP25) to express their tiredness and anger at the inaction of governments and the leading economies of the world faced with the degradation of the planet by the climatic change.…

  • Uninvited: How A Wampanoag’s Stand Spurred the Day of Mourning in Plymouth

    High on a hill, overlooking the famed Plymouth Rock, stands the statue of our great Sachem, Massasoit. Massasoit has stood there many years in silence. We the descendants of this great Sachem have been a silent people. The necessity of making a living in this materialistic society of the white man caused us to be…

    Singing Hip Hop in Native Languages to Reclaim Identities

    Musical expressions are liberating and help build resilience. Some musical expressions have managed to unleash social change and others, to shape identities and resistance, but above all music is contributing significantly to keeping Native languages ​​and expressions alive. Indigenous languages ​​are living, active languages ​​that grow and are renewed, for example, when young people take…

    Water, Mexico and Its Many Hidden Names

    By Yásnaya Elena A. Gil,* presentation at the Mexican Congress on February 28, 2019, to mark the international year of indigenous languages. Nëwemp “the place of water”, mixe. Giajmïï “about water”, chinateco. Nangi ndá “the land in the middle of water”, mazateco. Kuríhi “inside water”, chichimeco. Nu koyo “humid town”, mixteco. It was the name…