Zapotec
Hallucinogens for the Zapotec
The Zapotec in the mountain village of San Jose del Pacifico, in southern Oaxaca, resent the fact that their local hallucinogenic mushrooms are attracting backpackers who are coming just for the drug experiences. Navarro Namur, a healer, expressed his resentment strongly: “The local people here have thousands of years of history tied to these sacred […]
A Dance that Promotes Zapotec Values
David Bacon considers the Zapotec “Dance of the Feather” to be “one of the world’s most beautiful dances.” In an article republished last week from his earlier piece in the publication Contexts from the American Sociological Association, Bacon argues that the unique dance represents the history and culture of the Zapotec of Oaxaca’s Central Valley. […]
Zapotec Woman Poet Recognized
Last week the daily blog of Asymptote, a prominent online literary and translation journal, featured the work of a major contemporary Zapotec poet named Irma Pineda. Ms. Pineda, along with other poets in her community, is at the forefront of articulating cultural values to the Zapotec people. Pineda was born and raised in Juchitán, a […]
Overcoming Memories of Violence [journal article review]
The Zapotec living in the mountains north of Oaxaca City had a violent history in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a subject that a recent journal article carefully explores. Patrick J. McNamara writes an essay about the local people fighting against the outside forces of industrial owners, whose practices threatened the lives of […]
Revitalizing Zapotec Language and Culture [journal article review]
Coyote wanted to eat Opossum but the latter, too wily for his would-be consumer, said he must first eat the juiciest fruits from a nearby cactus. Coyote did as Opossum instructed—he opened his mouth and closed his eyes, whereupon, the possum pitched three prickly pears down the coyote’s throat. The myth, according to Elizabeth Falconi, […]
Zapotec Women Push Changes [online magazine article review]
The Zapotec woman spoke insightfully: “I feel that we have deep roots as an indigenous town, which has changed over time, it’s true, but [it] is still very rooted in our values, in solidarity, brotherhood, in community work.” Carmen Alonso Santiago, director of the Zapotec NGO Flor y Canto (Flower and Song) in Mexico’s Oaxaca […]
Uses and Customs in Oaxaca [online magazine article review]
Self-governance, community service, and communal lands are among the traditions cherished by the Zapotec that help them maintain their autonomy, interpersonal harmony and effective approaches to justice. This website reviewed a journal article about the Zapotec social and political system, called usos y costumbres, in 2005, but it is helpful to have a current, popularly-written […]
Zapotec Affected by Wind Project
A massive industrial wind project is under construction in southern Mexico near the city of Juchitán de Zaragosa, and the local indigenous farm families, mostly Zapotecs, are unhappy about it. Using the Zapotec name Biío Hioxo Energy, the developers are seizing lands in the name of alternative power development. The project, reported recently from the […]
Zapotec Linguistics Analysis
Mark Sicoli is using a path-breaking linguistics analysis technique to better understand the ways that gestures and behaviors used by speakers of a Zapotec language affect their speech. He and a team of student assistants at Georgetown University are examining 40 hours of videos of people speaking Lachixio, one of the Zapotec languages, as they […]
Central California Zapotec Festival
Some Zapotec from Coatecas Altas, in Mexico’s Oaxaca state, started an annual festival in Madera, California, in 2009 and it has grown steadily since then. Called La Fiesta del Pueblo, the celebration began as a way for people from the Mexican town to celebrate their community saint, San Juan Evangelista. Juan Santiago, a young Zapotec […]
