El Consejo Agroecológico de Oaxaca, which is made up of 10 organizations and collectives from Oaxaca points out that it is an enormous commitment to invite Dr. Pinheiro, beacause it implies that they must apply what they have learned and show the results during the next visit.
Dr. Pinheiro, a permanent member of the movement “Los Sin Tierra”, of Brazil as well as the Union Internacional de Trabajadores de la Alimentación (UITA). He is a founder and member of the foundation JUQUIRA CANDIRA and various other NGOs. He visited the community of Santa María Yaviche as part of his 2019 tour “Biopoder Campesino y el Consumidor Agroecológico” where he spoke with small subsistance farmers and students of the Bachillerato Integral Comunitario(BIC) and Centro de Estudios Universitarios Xhidza(CEUXhidza), while doing agro-ecological demonstrations.
Community Geographies is a Book and Workbook. It is the expression of various creative social processes, pedagogical, intervention and community accompaniment, always permeated by trust. It is the result of the personal and professional experience of more than 20 years of collaboration with Popular Education initiatives, Social Movements and also in critical dialogue in academic spaces.
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Presentation (p.16)
Community Geographies is a Book and Workbook. It is the expression of various creative social processes, pedagogical, intervention and community accompaniment, always permeated by trust. It is the result of the personal and professional experience of more than 20 years of collaboration with Popular Education initiatives, Social Movements and also in critical dialogue in academic spaces. It is proposed as a way of thinking, being and doing in the midst of social diversity and for the care, defense of territories and for a dignified life. With commitment, an ethical and political attitude and with a conceptual and methodological perspective of liberation, it has the challenge of contributing to the visibility of the community and common action. In the collective construction of territorial knowledge to position the practices, looks, narratives, projects, dreams, desires and utopias of the original Peoples and Nations, in the face of the attempts to dispossess and plunder the territories. This proposal adds to the urgent call to critically articulate dialogue and the ecology of knowledge, with other thoughts, epistemology, ontology, pedagogy and narrative for life.
It is a self-managed edition, has been made with its own resources and based on multiple exercises of building collective knowledge, with and from different territories. It aspires to be a contribution to the care and defense of territories. It is the result of collective work with Communities, Organizations, Collectives, Nations, Peoples and Cultures of Mexico.
In this program, students are immersed in grassroots work of local Fair Trade activists through a 1-credit winter break faculty-led program conducted through SIT. The program includes site visits and conversations with community members focusing on economic, political and social issues. In Oaxaca, one of the leading producers of world renowned handcrafts, students take part in immersion activities with local community members to explore free and fair trade, the economic history of the city, and considerations of gender in the evolution of fair trade. Students learn through classes, site visits to NGOs, coffee producing communities, and women’s artisan cooperatives.
During this program, Alternative Economies, Indigeneity and Migration, students take classes, and meet with different artists, activists and organizations in Oaxaca.
Alternative Economies, Indigeneity, and Migration
During this program students learn about alternative economies migration and indigeneity in the state of Oaxaca. During their time with SURCO A.C., they receive classes, as well as meet with different artists and activists in the city. Some of these classes and workshops have included a dialogue with Tajëëw Díaz Robles and Kiado Cruz about indigenous identity and rights and meeting with the feminist rapper Mare Advertencia Lírika about Hip Hop music and indiginous rights, gender, and social inequality. While in Oaxaca the students visit collectives and civil organizations such as EDUCA AC, CAMINOS AC, CAMPO AC, Consorcio Oaxaca AC.
Students also visit surrounding communities, like Teotitlan de Valle and Monte Albán. In the Sierra Juárez they learn about the experience of indigenous communities organizing against extractivism in Capulámpan de Méndex and Guelatao de Juárez. They also learn about community radio stations, and work with Central American migrants.
Students in the Umass Dartmouth Summer Program work with local partners to compare forms of racialization as well as restorative and transformative justice in Mexico and the United States.
By looking at topics such as the War on Drugs, domestic violence, race and racism, and alternative forms of justice, students explore how justice in Mexico compares to that in their own communities. In this interactive class, students will examine the nature of contemporary justice systems as well as restorative, transformative, and indigenous justice approaches in Mexico. The comparative case of Mexico enables students to see very different understandings of crime and justice, even as they will trace how the U.S. – and New England – are intimately connected to Latin America and the Caribbean. The 2019 trip will also include an extended discussion about ethnicity and racism in Mexico, including with local Afro-Mexican organizations.
As in all countries in the world, some Mexican populations suffer exclusion and discrimination from the dominant groups in Mexican society. Many social groups, such as women ethnic and linguistic minorities, migrants and refugees. These minority groups in Mexico are subject to various forms of injustice(legal, social and economic).
Focusing in the themes of social justice, this course looks to understand the socioeconomic inequalities and the sociocultural conflicts in Mexico that make certain social groups more excluded and discriminated socially, economically, legally and institutionally. We study the sociological, historic, economic and political factors inherent to the process of exclusion and discrimination. Throughout this course we analyze the various facets of the process of marginalization(prejudice, exclusion, discrimination, racism and institutional racism). Special attention will be given to the struggles, challenges and opportunities of these minority groups and how they have organized themselves to fight for their rights.
Potential excursions take Border Studies students to a number of sites that include trips to the Sonoran-Arizona borderlands along both sides of the border as well as the interior of Mexico.
Border Studies is a semester long program based out of Tucson Arizona, that runs in both the spring and fall. It includes a class component, field study with a local organization, and excursions. Potential excursions take Border Studies students to a number of sites that include trips to the Sonoran-Arizona borderlands along both sides of the border as well as the interior of Mexico. Past excursions have included Nogales, Sonora, Mexico; the O’odham Nation in Sonora; the Río Sonora Valley; El Paso and Ciudad Juárez; Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico; New Mexico’s Gila Wilderness; as well as sites in Arizona like Florence and Arivaca. The unique combination of coursework, field studies, and travel seminars create an outstanding opportunity for students to deepen their understanding of their own positionalities in relationship to space, a multitude of communities and their particular struggles for social justice. Excursions also allow for students to explore several academic themes such as migration, the global economy, environmental degradation, development, sustainability, transnational communities, international boundaries, and justice in a land marked by numerous inequalities. Please direct questions about international travel to Patty Lamson at borders@earlham.edu
CEUXHIDZA beyond just an institution is an experience in which the students are part of a new model of learning that permits them to reassess principles, techniques, knowledge and community values.
The Center for University Studies, CEUXHIDZA is a learning community inspired by intercultural dialogue and knowledge. We consider that wisdom is not used just to interpret the world, but to change it. We wish to share an educative process of constant investigation and learning where the pedagogy is inspired by our own life experience, cosmovision, interrelationships with other beings, and from the Xhidza(Zapoteco) people. Our motto; “perceive and create the echos of the world” is derived from the fact that to reinforce our mode of living, we need to perceive the echos of the world living in community(Yedzi). Through affection we can create to become that we believe possible.
During this 8 week long program, students engage with themes of social and environmental justice through addressing themes of global economy and its local effects, land tenure, and “clean energy” in the context of Oaxaca.
During the first 5 weeks, the students take classes, go on excursions, and meet with civil organizations, collectives, local artists, and activists. In this phase we focused on political economy, geographic issues, and an introduction to qualitative research methodology, among other themes.
In the last three weeks, the university students design and carry out an investigation with the themes that they choose. They are given the option to travel through the state, or conduct their investigation from the capital.
Land, Culture and Politics in Oaxaca is an 8 week summer program focuses on issues social and environmental justice in Oaxaca and has a research component.
This program, similar to the one through University of Kentucky, consists of 8 weeks of students engaging with themes of social and environmental justice through addressing issues of global economy and its local effects, “clean energy”, land tenure, etc. in the context of Oaxaca.
In the first 5 weeks they take classes, go on excursions, meet with civil organizations, collectives, and local artists and activists. In this phase they focus on political economy, geographic issues, an introduction to the qualitative research methodology, among others. Optional Spanish classes are also offered.
In the last three weeks, the university students design and carry out an investigation with themes that they choose. They are given the option to travel through the state, or conduct their investigation from the capital.
In general the students from the University of Kentucky and University of Arizona take the same classes, and share the same experiences.
Saúl Fuentes commented that he has been participating in CORAL, A.C. for 11 years, and has spent more than 30 years working with people with hearing disabilities. Currently they are conducting a fundraiser to continue their work with this population.
Servicios Universitarios y Redes de Conocimientos en Oaxaca (SURCO) presents the first part of the research carried out this year 2018, which analyzed 15 mining projects in Oaxaca. This work focuses on 7 projects of the U.S. mining company Gold Resource Corp (GRC), whose subsidiary in Mexico is Don David Gold Mexico S.A. de C.V., its area of influence includes municipalities of Central Valleys and the Sierra Sur in the state of Oaxaca.
GOLD RESOURCE CORP or DON DAVID GOLD MEXICO MINING PROJECTS
Servicios Universitarios y Redes de Conocimientos en Oaxaca (SURCO), presents the first part of the research carried out on mining projects in Oaxaca. This research focuses on the U.S. mining company Gold Resource Corp (GRC), with Don David Gold México S.A. de C.V. as a subsidiary in Mexico. Its area of influence includes the municipalities of Valles Centrales and Sierra Sur in the state of Oaxaca.
About This Work
The concern originated after reviewing several tables of mining projects in the state of Oaxaca, most issued by requests for access to public information and others by the State Mining Panorama. These databases lack a breakdown of the concessions that make up each project. In addition, in many cases they only mention one municipality for each project, although the concessions cover more than one municipality; in other cases they mention municipalities that are not part of the concession area. In addition, there are various data related to mining projects in official sources that contradict each other.
This material is intended to be a tool to clearly locate mining projects in Oaxaca. The main product of this study is a map showing the projects with their respective concessions and concession titles. This visualizes the municipalities affected by the concessions, and therefore, by the mining projects. The map we present highlights in beige the concessions in the area that belong to other companies and are not part of the GRC projects.
The second part of this investigation takes mining projects in communal territories and municipalities in the district of Ixtlán in the Sierra Norte region of Oaxaca. Of the 38 concessions in this region, 36 touch the district of Ixtlán, according to the Cartografía Minera de la Secretaría de Economía.
The main purpose of this work was to define and locate more clearly the projects El Roble, Lachatao and Geranio. The map illustrates these three mining projects of the Canadian company First Mining Gold Corp. (FMGC), as well as the the Natividad and Anexas concessions, and other concessions in the same area.
FMGC is a Canadian enterprise that has 25 mining projects in Canada, Mexico and the United States, which can be found in phases of exploration and development. Until now, they have not had any mines in operation. Their principal focus is gold.
The third part of this investigation includes three foreign companies with mining projects in the Isthmus region of Tehuantepec and part of the Sierra Sur: The Canadian companies Minaurum Gold Inc and Acapulco Gold Corp and the Australian Oz Minerals. Five maps were made corresponding to the projects of these companies. This visual tool is for communities to locate themselves and know if their lands have already been granted.
On the website of Minaurum Gold Inc, revised in July 2018, there is a map of the Santa Marta project, which illustrates two mining concessions: the “Mar de Cobre” (Title: 231753) and “Jackita” (Title: 225472) in the Cartografía Minera de la Secretaria de Economia (SE). These two concessions cover San Miguel Chimalapa and Santo Domingo Zanatepec, totaling 7,100.3494 hectares. The original owners of the concessions have links with Minaurum. The co-founder of Minera Cascabel, Peter Megaw, is one of the directors of Minaurum. The president of the Minera Zalamera, David Jones, among other positions in the mining sector, is director and geologist at Minaurum, and the founding director of Acapulco Gold Corp, the company that manages the Riqueza Marina, Zaachila and Zapotitlán projects.
Project Aurena:
Ot the Minarium Gold Inc website, reviewed in July 2018, the company stated that the Aurena project consists of 1,035 hectares 40 km from the port of Sanina Cruz. This information coincides with the “Aurena” concession(Title:227940) in the Cartografia Minera de la SE, which covers 1,035.0912 hectares of Santo Domingo Tehuantepec. The original owner of this concession according to Cartografia Minera is Minera Zalamera, S.A de C.V. whose president is David Jones, director and geologist at Minaurum, and director and founder of Acapulco Gold Corp.
Project of Oz Minerals and Acapulco Gold in Oaxaca
CEUXhidza is a learning community located in the “El Rincón” region of the Sierra Juárez de Oaxaca, in a community called Santa María Yaviche. The community assembly of Santa María Yaviche, alongside SURCO launched this initiative with an aim to strengthen indigenous education with a proposal for better bilingual higher education for the Zapotec Xhidza […]
CEUXhidza is a learning community located in the “El Rincón” region of the Sierra Juárez de Oaxaca, in a community called Santa María Yaviche. The community assembly of Santa María Yaviche, alongside SURCO launched this initiative with an aim to strengthen indigenous education with a proposal for better bilingual higher education for the Zapotec Xhidza peoples.
One year after the start of the program, the students have responded with participation and aptitude. In September we hope to receive a second generation with the best conditions possible to cover the necessities of the students in their academic formation.
We congratulate the recent publication of the members of Consorcio Oaxaca “Experiencias alternativas de educación y estrategias para docentes frente a la violencia escolar” a product of a collective effort. Diverse actors contributed, including SURCO, who shared lived experiences from el Centro de Estudios Universitarios; a university project promoted and maintained by the community of […]
We congratulate the recent publication of the members of Consorcio Oaxaca “Experiencias alternativas de educación y estrategias para docentes frente a la violencia escolar” a product of a collective effort. Diverse actors contributed, including SURCO, who shared lived experiences from el Centro de Estudios Universitarios; a university project promoted and maintained by the community of Santa Maria Yaviche.
“Those of us who subscribe to this material are convinced that there is a great potential in children and adolescents to transform the situations of violence that currently exist. Not because we think that they are the future, but because we know that they are the present…In they spaces that they inhabit, particularly in school, they already face different types of violence that are a reflection of who live in their own homes, neighborhoods, cities, or communities. Understanding and dealing with these forms of violence is essential in order to more respectfully and longingly accompany the children and youth with whom we work” – Concorcio Oaxaca
We invite you to download and read the following reflections in order to nourish the educational work because we believe that the reflections and collective constructions help build knowledge. We also ask that you share with those that you know so that they can be read by more people.
Visit to Teotitlán del Valle Thursday the 4th of October, Friday a visit to Capulalpam and a couple days of knowledge exchange in CEUXHIDZA de Santa María Yaviche.
This winter we started a new university program in SURCO with students at the Northwest Indian College, located in Bellingham Washington. It is a great pleasure to have students from the first nations of North America: Quinna Hamby of the Tuscarora(Skarure) Nation, and Mikaela Ponca Montoya of the Osage(Niakonska) Nation, who both presented a bit […]
This winter we started a new university program in SURCO with students at the Northwest Indian College, located in Bellingham Washington. It is a great pleasure to have students from the first nations of North America: Quinna Hamby of the Tuscarora(Skarure) Nation, and Mikaela Ponca Montoya of the Osage(Niakonska) Nation, who both presented a bit about the history and the situation of their peoples in the United States. The presentation was in English with translation into Spanish.
We were so glad to have these two students here with us at SURCO and we wanted to make space for them to share some of their experiences with you.
On the 18th, 19th and 20th of February of this year, we visited the community of Santa María Yaviche, to share experiences and knowledge with the community and with the students of the Centro de Estudios Universitarios Xhidza CEUXHIDZA.
You are cordially invited to the exposition that these students will have about their peoples.
