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… Continue reading…
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… Continue reading…
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… Continue reading…
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… Continue reading…
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… Continue reading…
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… Continue reading…
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… Continue reading…
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… Continue reading…
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…. Continue reading…
Last week the Washington Post carried an Associated Press story about how wireless communications are developing in an isolated mountain Zapotec village in Mexico. Until this year, placing a phone call in the village of Talea de Castro, in Oaxaca state, has meant walking to a central community telephone booth… Continue reading…
