Tuesday, October 3rd, 2023

Presentation and Discussion Defending Indigenous Corn in Oaxaca, Mexico

2:30pm-3:30pm – Lake Mendota Room, Dejope Residence Hall

Hands-on Indigenous Foods Demonstration

4:00pm-5:30pm – Native Nations Fire Ring, Dejope Residence Hall

4:00pm-8:30pm – Indigenous Menu at “1491” in Four Lakes Market

“Struggles in the defense of the native corn of Oaxaca”

Join special guests Gabriela Linares and Aldo Gonzalez, from UNOSJO – Union of Organizations of the Sierra Juarez de Oaxaca– and members of Espacio Estatal en Defensa del Maiz Nativo de Oaxaca who will talk about the challenges that some agricultural endeavors pose to their seed sovereignty.

Gaby and Aldo will share how they are working with organizations in Oaxaca for the defense of corn and the seeds from Indigenous campesinos in their territories.  They will share how they carry out resistance and defense of their milpa fields and their ancestral traditions around agriculture and food.  Gabriela and Aldo, will talk about the pressures that peasants are enduring to maintain a cultural legacy to grow their own seeds -seeds that have been passed down from generations- and to share them with others.

After the presentation stick around for hands-on Indigenous foods demonstrations with Dan Cornelius at the Native Nations Fire Ring outside Dejope Residence Hall. The 1849 Diner station inside Four Lakes Market will become “1491” and feature an Indigenous menu featuring; cranberry wojapi, wild rice with mushroom, pepita, cranberry, whitefish with asparagus and corn mush, and blue corn mush.

Please join us for this event.  Everyone is welcome.  Talk will be in Spanish with simultaneous English interpretation.

Questions please email Claudia Irene Calderón (cicalderon@wisc.edu)

Support for guest speakers made possible by the generous support of LACIS and a grant from the Ira and Ineva Reilly Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment.