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…

  • Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack of Settler Privilege

    November is Native American Heritage Month when we as American Indian people get to have the mic for a little while. So, I’d like to take my turn at the virtual mic to talk about settler privilege, something you likely have never thought of, or have never even heard of. What you have undoubtedly heard…

  • Language, Our Roots, and Justice

    During most of the 20th century, national states in the US continent, almost without exception, developed policies of forced assimilation of Native peoples. The “democratic” obsession with equality ended by making invisible, and in many cases, lead almost to the extinction of Native peoples’ languages, cultures, and ethnic identities. Economic inequality generated an internalized colonization…

  • Photo: Waorani Resistencia Pastaza

    Indigenous Women Sing to Fight for the Amazon and for their Way of Life

    It was 1973 when the first barrels of Texaco oil was carried on a large military procession from the northern Amazon in Ecuador to the seacoast for its processing and export. The parade included sullen indigenous women sitting above a tank, taken from their territories and families, most likely forcibly. The promotional video shows people…

  • Indigenous Women Sing to Fight for the Amazon and Their Way of Life

    The first barrels of Texaco oil were transported in a large military procession from the northern Amazon in Ecuador to the coast for processing and export in 1973. The parade included two indigenous women sitting on top of a tank, taken, most likely, by force from their territories and families. The promotional video shows people…

  • The Red Road: Documenting the Lives of Northern Tribes

    Two friends with a love for storytelling (Danielle SeeWalker from the Sioux tribe) and documenting life experiences in pictures (Carlotta Cardana), came together to capture the lives of Northern Tribes, of their living cultures and resilience, despite centuries of oppression. We transcribe here excerpts of their own description about the inspiration behind this project (as…

  • 68 Voces

    68 Voices, 68 Hearts: “No one can love what he does not know”.

  • Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s women water advocates

    Históricamente, la Tribu Sioux de Standing Rock ha luchado con justicia y derecho en defensa de la tierra y sus territorios, como protectores del agua. Lamentablemente, ellos están siendo despojados una vez más de su forma de vida con la instalación del oleoducto Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) y sus eventuales efectos en el medio ambiente.…