During a pandemic, Indigenous communities tend to be among the most vulnerable, given their often-limited access to water, food supplies, adequate healthcare, and other factors. In this special “Pandemic Perspectives” series of our Dispatches, we’re sharing stories from around the world to shed some light on the obstacles Indigenous Peoples face in light of COVID-19

It was October 1996, and Terralingua was, officially, less than three months old. We had incorporated as a nonprofit organization under U.S. law at the end of July of that year. We were infants—but infants with a big vision and far-reaching goals. We believed that linguistic diversity, cultural diversity, and biodiversity are interlinked and interdependent

James D. Nations Through line = The connecting theme, the spine, the thread that connects people to their objective and pushes them forward. “Take care of the forest, like before, like the ancestors did. Take good care of the forest.” Years ago, when linguist Suzanne Cook asked Chan K’in, a Lacandón Maya Elder, what message

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

Text and photos by Yolanda López-Maldonado . “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 Vuh . . It’s rainy season in

by James D. Nations . Chiapas, Mexico, 2015 . . I spent the morning learning the names of dozens of dragonflies and skippers, the translucent-winged insects that flit along the edges of the crystalline-blue lakes where the Lacandón Maya live in the rainforest of southeastern Mexico. Chan K’in José Valenzuela, my 80-year-old Lacandón friend, has been