Perspectives from AbiaYala and beyond

In the last episode of the first season Efraín Gomez Ton, a Tseltal-Tzotzil musician and teacher from Chiapas, shares his perspectives on inspiration and resilience during the 95th-anniversary celebrations of his school, the Escuela Normal Rural Raúl Isidro Burgos best known as the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers’ College. Efraín shares with us three of his songs while he explains how his family and communities are at the centre of his heart, guiding his inspiration in creating lyrics and music and working as a rural teacher with children from the most excluded territories of Mexico. He explains that being a rural teacher is a role that goes beyond teaching, it involves a deep commitment to rural communities and pro-active participation to nurture these communities’ wellbeing which, in the case of Indigenous communities, involves political action against oppression and exclusion. 

In this episode, we share the beautiful project 68 Voces,68 Corazones (68 voices,68 hearts), developed in Mexico to promote Indigenous languages. The content from this episode was extracted from the website: 68voces.mx. 68 voices 68 hearts is an animated series of Mexican indigenous stories, narrated in their native language. Created under the premise, "No one can love what they don't know,” it hopes to reveal the wealth of the 68 hearts that enrich Mexico through their Indigenous languages. Each language encompasses a unique vision of life and the world. When one language disappears, the worldview of entire communities is lost, and so an important part of humanity is lost as well.

In this episode we listen to three Indigenous languages: Tu’un Savi, Nahuatl from the Huasteca Veracruzana, and the Totonaco from Puebla. Most of the content of this episode was created by the initiative Descarga Cultura from the National Autonomous University of Mexico and it was originally published online at www.descargacultura.unam.mx.

This episode gathers a few poems (in xochitl, in cuicatl) from prehispanic Mexica authors translated from the Nahuatl language by Miguel Leon-Portilla in his book "Fifteen Poets of the Aztec World"

This episode gathers the voices of six professionals who work deeply immersed in Indigenous knowledges: Nahannee-Fe Schuitemaker, Christine Luckasavitch, Jason Bruce, Stephen Muntet, Lisa Milliken Catherine Davis. Facilitated by the Mohawk scholar, Gabriel Maracle, they share how they have lived through the year of the COVID-19 pandemic holding to Indigenous Knowledges as a helpful tool for resilience. This episode was recorded on March 17th, 2021, during the conference Indigenous Insights organized by Trent University as a pre-event for the Annual Elders & Traditional Peoples Gathering on March 18th-21st, 2021.

In this episode, we talk about Tseltal knowledge and the meaning of good life, as well as the perspectives of Eva Guadalupe Sántiz López, who has 20 years of experience working in the field of community health in Tseltal communities.

In this episode, Chef Martin Carbajal shares with us his experiences and knowledge about his passion: making food. Martin explains how he promotes the warmth of the communal experience of what Mexican food is through his restaurant La Mesita. 

In this episode, Dr. Eduardo Aguilar shares with us a few reflections from his work on promoting alternative ways to understand the economy, focusing on the diversity of Abiayala's Nations and on the conception of solidarity.  

In this episode, we listen to Professor Skahendowaneh Swamp, his daughter Ia'teieká:nereh and his son Shakorenna:wis singing and sharing teachings about the traditional practice of singing and dancing. They share with us Ohontsia'kékha Karennahshón:'a (Songs of the Earth).

In this episode, the psychologist and educator Linda Leal talks about Corazones Ancestrales, an initiative centred in community building and self-healing created by her. Linda shares with us her perspectives on the relevance of Mexican ancestral knowledges in innovative self-healing processes.