TERESA LEAL, OPATA-MAYO, is one of my teachers and mentors. She is a community leader in an urban border community, along the Sonora-Arizona international boundary, AMBOS NOGALES, and she, along with numerous women from more than 60 indigenous women's comunidades in Ambos Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, and Arizona, U.S. We have been comadres (matrilineal sisters-in-solidarity) since 2002. Teresa advocated for me to follow 'next steps' required by an indigenous women's network along the U.S.-Mexico corridors, and she urged me to support the communities' goals and objectives to gain access to academic knowledge. "Go for your PhD---we need you to grow even more and to work to improve the situations of Indigenous women through the university," Teresa said to me.
So, here I am with you, my students, ... I followed the advice of my teacher, mentor, and elder comadre.
Thanks to Reilly (!) for sending this Youtube of Teresa and her important work in Nogales. Teresa, like my mother, is always on the move, and even I, who studies and researches her work for my PhD, cannot keep up with her!!
She exemplifies how indigenous women's organizing for human, social, economic, political and cultural rights is robust and here to stay!
Monday, December 22, 2008
TRANSBORDER, TRANSHEMISPHERIC ORGANIZING PRINCIPLES--INDIGENOUS WOMEN'S NETWORKS & ORGANIZING BEYOND THE NATION-STATE
LOOK HERE FOR MODELS OF INDIGENOUS WOMEN'S ORGANIZING AND PROBLEMITZING AT THE INTERSECTIONS OF GENDER, VIOLENCE, MILITARISM, STATELESSNESS, DE-NATIONALIZATIONS, MIGRATION, AND CULTURAL SURVIVAL.
'NATIVE WOMEN' AS DEFINED, CONFINED IN WESTERN LEGAL THOUGHT (ESP. IN U.S., MEXICO, CANADIAN LEGAL SYSTEMS) CONTINUE TO BE REDEFINED BY INDIGENOUS WOMEN'S SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL REALITIES...
Indigenous women throughout the world are challenging the legacies of colonial invisibilities imposed upon them through deep structural violence by the states. At the same time, indigenous women challenge forces of oppression which occupy their traditional territories, not only by state institutions and actors, but also by ooppressors within indigenous communities. Racism, sexism, violence, militarism, poverty and blatant disregard for indigenous women's realities are issues which indigenous women tackle within indigenous communities corrupted and exploited by capitalist systems.
SAMPLES OF CURRENT MODELS:
"The Nepal Government have identified and recognized 59 indigenous nationalities of Nepal. Indigenous peoples comprise more than half of the total 22.5 million populations of Nepal but the government’s census data has under enumerated and show that it is 37.2 percent only. According to 2001 census the total population of Nepal is 23,151,423 out of which more than half 11,587,502 (50.4%) are women and Indigenous women constitute 4,345,314 (37.5%) of the total women population. Social exclusion based on gender, caste, ethnicity, language, religion, culture, region etc. have continued unabated for centuries due to Hinduism, patriarchy and Unitary state structure. Thus indigenous women face multiple forms of social exclusion not only based on sex and gender but also ethnicity, language, religion and culture. It is a known fact that the state has not recognized the identity of indigenous nationalities women as they lump sum in general term “Nepali Women”.
"The first Asian Indigenous Women’s Conference was held in Baguio City in the Cordillera region, Philippines on January 24-30, 1993. The conference brought together 150 women from 13 Asian countries and a few others from Europe and the Americas with the bulk of the participants coming from local organizations in the Cordillera. Its theme was “Sharing Commonalities and Diversities, Forging Unity Towards Indigenous Women’s Empowerment.” Its general objective was “to convene Asian indigenous women to share their various situations, fully understand how global developments impact on them, and collectively define what they can do to address common concerns." The conference gave birth to the Asian Indigenous Women’s Network (AIWN), which the participants then envisioned as a loose network that would help organize indigenous women in the region. The Cordillera Women’s Education and Resource Center (CWERC) was the key organizer of the conference."
"Himalayan Indigenous Women of Nepal have been intensively oppressed due to continuing racial, linguistic, cultural and religious discrimination. They are the victims of multiple forms of oppressions because of the fact that they are women, added to the fact that majority of them are illiterate and they are from remote areas of Nepal. Their educational status as well as their participation in the political and decision-making level of the country is almost nil in comparison to other women of Nepal. As a result, the rural indigenous Himalayan women are facing multiple burdens of discrimination from every sector of the development process."
"When the thirteen United Nation's working group on the indigenous population was held in Geneva in 1995, only three of the thirty African delegates present were women. The absence of the African indigenous women in these international meetings shows that they lack the apportunities to express their points of view and their interests at the international level.
The indegineous people in the entire continent find themselves in a situation of marginalisation and isolation. Although this situation is present in any indigenous organization in Africa, the indigenous women meet other obstacles related to their status of woman in the dominant community as well as in the traditional community. The goal of the first African Indigenous Women's Conference is to put an end to this isolation.
The indigenous women of Africa and their organizations should be able to better develop and formulate their claims and their points of view collectively. Thanks to these collective actions and the international co-operation, it was possible to achieve results during the former international conferences.
The first African Indigenous Women's Conference will offer the opportunity to exchange ideas and mutual experiences concerning the strategies towards the problems that they encounter, and to create a network of the indigenous women in Africa."
The indegineous people in the entire continent find themselves in a situation of marginalisation and isolation. Although this situation is present in any indigenous organization in Africa, the indigenous women meet other obstacles related to their status of woman in the dominant community as well as in the traditional community. The goal of the first African Indigenous Women's Conference is to put an end to this isolation.
The indigenous women of Africa and their organizations should be able to better develop and formulate their claims and their points of view collectively. Thanks to these collective actions and the international co-operation, it was possible to achieve results during the former international conferences.
The first African Indigenous Women's Conference will offer the opportunity to exchange ideas and mutual experiences concerning the strategies towards the problems that they encounter, and to create a network of the indigenous women in Africa."
Testimony: "This week, 260 indigenous women like her are in Oaxaca, Mexico, to brainstorm about how to increase the political representation of Latin America's 25 million indigenous women and improve their health, literacy and treatment on the job.
Mexico has no national plan that specifically addresses the problems of its indigenous women, says Alfonso Alem, executive director of the Rigoberta Menchu Tum Foundation, which organized this first Indigenous Women Summit of the Americas from Nov. 30 to Dec. 4. Indigenous women are directed to programs for women living in poverty, as if "poor" and "indigenous" are synonyms, Alem says.
And, what government help there is, is useless, adds Maya, a resident of Mexico City since she was 2 years old.
"On the contrary, it makes us vulnerable," she says. "The most important thing that the government should give to indigenous peoples is education and work projects, instead of giving money."
Indigenous Women Are Invisible to Researchers
The scant research on the status of indigenous women in Latin America speaks to their lack of visibility, Alem says.
"If we look at the rates relating to heath, mortality, birth or education, the most terrible numbers are always concentrated on indigenous women," says Paloma Bonfil, coordinator of indigenous women's programs at the Mexican president's Office for Indigenous Affairs. Based on her nationwide investigations, Bonfil estimates that more than 87 percent of indigenous women older than 15 are illiterate, compared with 51 percent of indigenous men. Similarly, life expectancy for indigenous women in Mexico is 71.5 years, compared to 76 years for their male counterparts.
Indigenous women elsewhere in Latin America have a similar quality of life, says Xochitl Galvez, head of the indigenous affairs office. Indigenous women are the poorest of the poor, she says: Because of their limited education, these women often aren't even aware of their basic rights and are consequently exploited, receiving lower wages if they are paid at all. Indigenous women also lack access to health services, are often victims of domestic violence and generally work longer hours due to lack of infrastructure in their villages. Because many of these villages lack water and electricity, women must walk long distances to get water and scavenge for firewood, Galvez says."
Mexico has no national plan that specifically addresses the problems of its indigenous women, says Alfonso Alem, executive director of the Rigoberta Menchu Tum Foundation, which organized this first Indigenous Women Summit of the Americas from Nov. 30 to Dec. 4. Indigenous women are directed to programs for women living in poverty, as if "poor" and "indigenous" are synonyms, Alem says.
And, what government help there is, is useless, adds Maya, a resident of Mexico City since she was 2 years old.
"On the contrary, it makes us vulnerable," she says. "The most important thing that the government should give to indigenous peoples is education and work projects, instead of giving money."
Indigenous Women Are Invisible to Researchers
The scant research on the status of indigenous women in Latin America speaks to their lack of visibility, Alem says.
"If we look at the rates relating to heath, mortality, birth or education, the most terrible numbers are always concentrated on indigenous women," says Paloma Bonfil, coordinator of indigenous women's programs at the Mexican president's Office for Indigenous Affairs. Based on her nationwide investigations, Bonfil estimates that more than 87 percent of indigenous women older than 15 are illiterate, compared with 51 percent of indigenous men. Similarly, life expectancy for indigenous women in Mexico is 71.5 years, compared to 76 years for their male counterparts.
Indigenous women elsewhere in Latin America have a similar quality of life, says Xochitl Galvez, head of the indigenous affairs office. Indigenous women are the poorest of the poor, she says: Because of their limited education, these women often aren't even aware of their basic rights and are consequently exploited, receiving lower wages if they are paid at all. Indigenous women also lack access to health services, are often victims of domestic violence and generally work longer hours due to lack of infrastructure in their villages. Because many of these villages lack water and electricity, women must walk long distances to get water and scavenge for firewood, Galvez says."
"At the Fifth Session of the Permanent Forum, a UNFPA-sponsored event called attention to important intercultural initiatives taking place in Latin America. These projects focus on improving access of indigenous people to reproductive health, taking into account the importance of cultural values in dealing with this sensitive sphere of life.
Although overall progress toward the Millennium Development Goals in the Americas has been encouraging, wide gaps remain between national averages and the situation of indigenous groups. Data capturing the full measure of these inequities are scarce, but it is known that indigenous people fare poorly in terms of income, education, literacy and maternal and infant mortality. The stress of poverty, as well as a clash of cultures, often leaves indigenous women subject to gender-based violence, despite indigenous traditions of balance and shared lives between men and women. "
Although overall progress toward the Millennium Development Goals in the Americas has been encouraging, wide gaps remain between national averages and the situation of indigenous groups. Data capturing the full measure of these inequities are scarce, but it is known that indigenous people fare poorly in terms of income, education, literacy and maternal and infant mortality. The stress of poverty, as well as a clash of cultures, often leaves indigenous women subject to gender-based violence, despite indigenous traditions of balance and shared lives between men and women. "
"The Indigenous Women's Network (IWN) was established in as a grass roots initiative at a gathering of over 200 Indigenous women at Yelm, Washington in 1985. The (Founding Mothers ) were and continue to be strong, committed Indigenous women activists who dedicate themselves to generating a global movement that achieves sustainable change for our communities. Under their visionary leadership, IWN has become known for inspiring, strategic, pro-active and affirming events that facilitates the inter-generational transfer of traditional knowledge to young, Indigenous women. Our training programs and publications reach and link Indigenous women around the world in a network of support that includes award winning artists, activists, authors, community leaders, educators, attorneys and traditional healers.
Over the past 21 years, IWN has evolved into an international coalition of Indigenous women from rural and urban communities who approach the resolution of contemporary challenges from a traditional Indigenous values base. IWN serves as a major driving force behind Indigenous communities, mobilizing change around issues affecting ourselves and our families, Mother earth and the environment, cultural/spiritual beliefs and traditions, health services and tribal governance."
Over the past 21 years, IWN has evolved into an international coalition of Indigenous women from rural and urban communities who approach the resolution of contemporary challenges from a traditional Indigenous values base. IWN serves as a major driving force behind Indigenous communities, mobilizing change around issues affecting ourselves and our families, Mother earth and the environment, cultural/spiritual beliefs and traditions, health services and tribal governance."
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