Cultural Survival welcomes the newest member of our staff, Bia’ni Madsa’ Juárez López, as Program Associate for the Community Media and Indigenous Rights Radio Programs. Bia’ni is Mixe (Ayuuk ja’ay) and Zapotec (Binnizá) from Oaxaca, Mexico. She was born in Oaxaca and grew up in the two towns and cultures.
Since her childhood, Bia’ni has been a part of the Indigenous resistance movement in Mexico and a part of many local social organizations.
Bia’ni says, “I am a biologist who loves to work with people. I have been working doing transdisciplinary research in my own Mixe community. For my master thesis in Tropical Ecology I conducted research about the relationship between tree diversity in coffee plantations and communitarian organization. My family produces organic coffee and are working to build a coffee project to improve their product and keep their shade coffee plantation thriving.”
Currently, Bia’ni is living in Oaxaca. “I am happy to work with Cultural Survival so I can continue to be involved more directly in land and Indigenous rights protection in Oaxaca and Mexico,” she says.
