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El Idioma Kaqchikel en Sumpango, Sacatepequez

Sumpango es uno de los municipios del Departamento de Sacatepéquez que queda a una distancia de 42 kilómetros de la ciudad capital, con más de 50,000 habitantes,  más del 95 % de indígenas y su idioma materno es el Maya Kaqchikel.El idioma Maya  KaqchileL, es hablado en la región central de Guatemala específicamente en los departamentos de: Sacatepéquez, Chimaltenango, parte de Sololá y…

Idioma Poqomam, Resistencia de un Pueblo

No lo vamos a olvidar, porque es nuestra vida, nuestras abuelas y abuelos así lo han dejado dicho. Ana Concogua.Palín, territorio poqomamEn medio de hermosos volcanes y montañas se encuentra el municipio de Palín-Escuintla, Territorio del pueblo Poqomam, ubicado a 40 kilómetros de la ciudad capital de Guatemala y a 17 de la cabecera departamental, donde se habla el idioma maya Poqomam.La…

Being Idle No More: The Women Behind the Movement

On December 11, 2012, on International Human Rights Day, northern Ontario Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence began a hunger strike, calling on Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Governor General David Johnston to “initiate immediate discussions and the development of action plans to address treaty issues with First Nations across Canada.” Her peaceful resistance, emphasizing the…

Challenging Tradition, Challenging Pop Art: Sonny Assu

Sonny Assu is a mixed heritage First Nations interdisciplinary artist from Canada. He is Ligwilda'xw of the We Wai Kai First Nation (Cape Mudge, Quadra Island, British Columbia), and wasraised in the suburbs of Vancouver. Assu’s work merges Indigenous iconography with the aesthetics of popular culture, branding, and new technologies to question historical sociocultural values. His work has been…

Rights Talk in Belize: Q’eqchi Maya Communities Meet Across Borders

On a recent January evening, Matilde Chocooj Coc stood talking to the mayor and town council members of Crique Sarco, a Q’eqchi Maya community of about 400 people in southern Belize whose territory is being explored for possible oil reserves by Texas-based drilling company US Capital Energy. Chocooj Coc comes from El Estor, a Q’eqchi Maya community in northeastern Guatemala with years of…

Yva Poty Rising: From the Ashes, a Cause for Hope

In the early morning of November 20, 2012, Paraguayan national police entered the Avá-Guaraní community of Yva Poty in eastern Paraguay armed with an eviction notice—setting off an ignominious chain of events in the community’s three decades-long struggle to gain title to their lands. Homes were burned, wells were poisoned, a school was destroyed; an entire community was seemingly reduced to a…

Keeper of the Knowledge: Interview with Cultural Survival Board Member Che Philip Wilson

Our series spotlighting the work of our board members continues with newly elected board member Che Philip Wilson (Ngāti Rangi from the North Island of Aotearoa-New Zealand). He was the chair of his tribe from 2008–2011, when he stepped down to become the chief executive. Wilson is also on the boardsof several tribal associations and philanthropic trusts. He and his wife own…

Enabling Women to Live the Life They Choose: Women’s Work

For the San Bushmen, the ostrich egg is a gift from the gods. Not only does the inside of the egg feed a family, the outside can be used as a water vessel. An obvious sign of fertility and prosperity, an eggshell made into beads and given to a friend is a wish for good luck. As the very first bead humans ever made, dating back over 50,000 years, and with the San as the last to be making them as…

Change Is in All of Us

On the last day of the 5,124 year cycle of Oxlajuj Baktun, people gathered across Guatemala in curiosity, in prayer, and in hope. Guatemala’s Ministry ofCulture extended an open invitation to participate in the “New Dawn” celebrations at the ancient Maya city of Iximche, outside the modern Maya city of Tecpan.As the sun set on the evening of December 20, a booming sound system played a…

El tambor electronico: El papel de radio comunitaria en dar marcha atrás al declive de idiomas indígenas

Traducido por Jessie Cherofsky“Nuestro idioma es la fuente principal de nuestra alma, nuestro orgullo, nuestro ser, nuestra fuerza, y nuestra identidad.” –Instructor de idioma indígena, Sobrevivencia Cultural Trimestral, 2010Daniel Gómez es un granjero y carpintero que vive en Palín, Escuintla, un pueblo poqomam maya en Guatemala y una isla virtual dentro de un mar de ciudades y…

Wishing on ‘Shooting Stars:’ Hopi Radio Reignites a Culture and Its Language

“I volunteer at the station because I want Hopi to learn and keep our own heritage and  language. It is my passion and we receive encouragement from the community.— KUYI-FM radio volunteer“The key to our survival as Indian people is not just preserving our cultural ways, but in devising ways to effectively interact with dominant society and with other cultures to coexist.”--…

Ka ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi Ma Nā Kukuna Lekiō

He mōʻaukala lōʻihi ko ka Hawaiʻi ma ka hoʻohana ʻana i ka ʻenehana no ka hoʻoholomua ʻana i nā ʻaoʻao like ʻole o ka nohona, mai ka pū a Kamehameha i kau ai ma kona waʻa, a i nā nūpepa he nui i paʻi ʻia, a i kēia wā e lako ʻākomi nei nā kamepiula i nā kinonahua a papapihi Hawaiʻi.  Ua hiki i nā kūpuna ke hoʻohawaiʻi i ka ʻenehana i lilo ia i kākoʻo nui i nā pahuhopu kānaka me ka lula ʻole…

Making Waves: Hawaiian Language On The Air

(Read the original article in Hawaiian here)From the cannon Kamehameha mounted on his war canoe to the numerous newspapers printed in Hawaiian, to the inclusion of Hawaiian fonts and keyboards on computers straight from the factory, the Hawaiian people have a storied history of utilizing technology for the betterment of our lives.The first informational technology widely used by…

Piecing Together Māori, Word by Word

“Ahakoa kei whea, Ahakoa āwhea, Ahakoa pēwhea, Kōrero Māori!”-- Te Māngai Pāho Māori Broadcasting Funding Agency(“Māori language - everyday, everyway, everywhere”)The beautiful thing about language is that it has the power to define the world around us.  By protecting the past and looking towards the future, it embodies exactly what it is we are all about.  It connects people,…

A Tale of One City, Two Languages: Palín, Guatemala

Has clic para version en Español.“We are not going to forget it. As our grandmothers and grandfathers said, “it is our life.” --Ana ConcoguaPalín: Poqomam TerritoryAmidst beautiful mountains and volcanoes sits the town of Palín, Escuintla, land of the Poqomam people. It is located 40 kilometers from Guatemala’s capital, Guatemala City. Here, in Palín-Escuintla, the people speak…

Reviving Kaqchikel Language in Sumpango, Sacatepequez

Has clic para version en Español.Sumpango is a town in the Sacatepéquez department of Guatemala, 42 kilometers from Guatemala City. It has over 50,000 inhabitants, 80-90 percent of whom are Indigenous and whose native language is Kaqchikel. The Kaqchikel language is spoken in the central region of Guatemala, and many of its words are similar to those in the Kiche and Tzutujil Mayan languages.…

The Electronic Drum: Community Radio’s Role in Reversing Indigenous Language Decline

“Our language is the number one source of our soul, our pride, our being, our strength, and our identity.”— Indigenous language instructor, Cultural Survival Quarterly, 2010Daniel Gomez is a farmer and carpenter who lives in Palín, Escuintla, a Poqomam Maya town in Guatemala and a virtual island in the sea of Spanish-speaking cities and towns that comprise the Guatemala City metro area.…

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