Text, Photos, and Video by Thor Morales In Mexico, biocultural diversity is perpetuated and nurtured mainly by women. Indigenous women take care of the culture and the land: they teach the mother tongues; cook traditional foods; cure with local herbs and ancestral knowledge; retain the traditional attire; and more strictly follow the usos y costumbres

Chonon Bensho with Pedro Favaron When I was born, my parents registered my birth in the town of Yarinacocha, giving me the name Astrith Gonzales Agustín. But in Shipibo-Konibo, my mother tongue, my name is Chonon Bensho, which means “the swallow from medicine orchards.” I am heir to the knowledge of my ancestors. My husband’s

Chloe Dragon Smith On the Land We feel The roots beneath our languages— Twisting and turning, gnarly, knowing. On the Land We learn With bodymindheartandsoul, The truths that shaped our words Long before they were spoken. Language is more than words and Words hold more than any language Could ever explain. Simple rhythmic sound waves

Marie-Émilie Lacroix interviewed by Marco Romagnoli “Dialogue is a way of knowing myself and of disentangling my own point of view from other viewpoints and from me, because it is grounded so deeply in my own roots as to be utterly hidden from me.” —Raimon Panikkar This is, at its simplest, the reason behind my

Re-Storying Biocultural Diversity: Wisdom from Young Indigenous Leaders Langscape Magazine Volume 8, Special Double Issue Summer/ Winter 2019 . Bringing the Past into the Future by Luisa Maffi and David Harmon . “We, the Indigenous Peoples, walk to the future in the footprints of our ancestors.” So begins the Kari-Oca Declaration and Indigenous Peoples’ Earth

Vova Iadne (Nenets, Russian Federation), interviewed by Galya Morrell I started carving when I was five. But even before that, I saw mammoth tusks in our Nenets tundra and played with them: they were my toys. I watched my father carving. I saw plain bones magically transforming into animals, humans, and spirits. I was intrigued

Khadry Okotetto (Nenets, Russian Federation), interviewed by Galya Morrell I was born in the tundra and grew up with the animals. My first language was the language of reindeer and of Arctic birds. I was raised by my grandparents, like everybody else here. I was a lucky guy. As an artist, I see my main mission

Katrina Trofimova (Even, Russian Federation), interviewed by Galya Morrell For me, art is a mere instrument of survival. I was born in an Arctic village, where fathers and brothers were vanishing faster than ice. I was running away from violence, hiding in nature, and dreaming of a beautiful world where I could live one day.

by Hēmi Whaanga and Priscilla Wehi . . E koekoe te tūī, e ketekete te kākā, e kūkū te kererū “The tūī chatters, the parrot gabbles, the wood pigeon coos.” (A saying for “It takes all kinds…”) Hēmi: As a young child, I often sat at the window of my house peering out at the

Text and photos by Yolanda López-Maldonado (Yucatec Maya, Mexico) . “This is the account of how all was in suspense, all calm, in silence; all motionless, still, and the expanse of the sky was empty. . . . There was nothing standing, only the calm water, the placid sea, alone and tranquil. Nothing existed.”   — Popol