The Los Angeles Public Library is celebrating the city’s large number of people from Oaxaca State in southern Mexico, particularly Zapotecs, with a prominent exhibit entitled “Visualizing Language: Oaxaca in L.A.” The exhibit, which has been on display in the central library’s rotunda since September, will remain open until January… Continue reading…
The massive earthquake that rocked southern Mexico shortly before midnight two weeks ago damaged or destroyed thousands of buildings and killed scores of people in the Zapotec city of Juchitán de Zaragoza. The magnitude 8.1 or 8.2 quake was located about 150 miles southeast of the city in the Gulf… Continue reading…
One of the major Zapotec weavers from Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico, is visiting Ventura County, California, this summer and sharing his techniques, traditions, and cultural insights through local workshops. A Ventura County news service last week published a report about the work, and the insights, of master weaver Porfirio… Continue reading…
Eufrosina Cruz Mendoza has had a fruitful career over the past 10 years as a successful politician, despite the initial resistance of the men in her hometown. The opposition to her election as mayor of the community made news headlines internationally nearly a decade ago since the town “fathers” had… Continue reading…
Some Zapotec and other indigenous people in Mexico’s Oaxaca State are successfully selling their coffee to buyers in Canada and five European countries with the aid of a farmer’s collective. A news story last week described the work of the coffee farmers, their collective, and the losses caused by a… Continue reading…
Bettina Cruz Velázquez, a fearless leader of the Zapotec land rights movement in Oaxaca State, spoke in Seattle in early October about the struggle against giant energy companies. Her description of the campaign to protect indigenous people from exploitation by the developers of huge wind plants on the Isthmus of… Continue reading…
Abigail Mendoza Ruiz, a well-known chef, is trying to preserve and enrich traditional Zapotec cuisine through the foods she serves in her restaurant, Tlamanalli. Her insistence on celebrating Zapotec customs impels her to serve only traditional foods in the restaurant she runs in Teotitlán del Valle, a town in Oaxaca… Continue reading…
The famous maxim “respect for the rights of others is peace” is an essential value for the Zapotec in Oaxaca’s Sierra Juárez region, as well as a defining concept for peaceful living everywhere. In a recent journal article, Estonian anthropologist Toomas Gross explores the impact the belief has on the… Continue reading…
Guelaguetza festivals, held in late July every year in Oaxaca City and other nearby towns of southern Mexico, celebrate the acts of giving and receiving in traditional Zapotec culture. The participants are famous for their extremely colorful costumes and dances. Unfortunately, according to a recent report from Public Radio International,… Continue reading…
The New York Times last week put a new twist on the “bathroom debate” currently roiling conservative circles in the U.S. by examining the practices of some Zapotec people who identify as a third gender. The belief in some U.S. states—that transgendered people must use public restrooms matching their apparent… Continue reading…
