FROM THE EDITORS: Wetʼsuwetʼen is a First Nations people living in British Columbia, Canada. They call themselves Wetʼsuwetʼen, which means “People of the Wa Dzun Kwuh River.” For hundreds of years, the Hereditary Chiefs of Wet’suwet’en have maintained, without assigning or subject to any treaty, the use and occupation of the 22,000 square kilometers of…
FROM THE EDITORS: Due to its geographical location, right in Ona-sin land (Tierra del Fuego), the Selk’nam People’s contact with the white man was marked by the forced transit of explorers and traders. Newcomers hunted local fauna to the point of extinction, species on which the Ona People depended on for sustenance. In the late…
Mexico: During the colonial era, demographically, the majority population was the Indigenous People, the second-largest was of African origin, and the third was whites and mestizos of European descent. Mexico had two Black presidents: the Generals Vicente Guerrero and Juan Álvarez (called “El Pinto” because he suffered from vitiligo. Because of the white spots on…
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…
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…
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.…
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…
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…
By Awasqa. Mexican-Canadian electronic artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, with the Border Tuner Project, has managed to connect Chamizal Park in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and Bowie High School in El Paso, Texas beyond the wall that separates these two communities. This is a deep connection, of the soul of two cities through intangible but susceptible materials: Light,…
From Awasqa Editors: Deep in the Amazon rainforest live one of the most vulnerable populations: indigenous tribes in voluntary isolation, or uncontacted tribes that have chosen to live away from civilizatory colonial advances of “modern” society. Their exact population is unknown but it spans across several borders in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, and other…